


Project Proving

by ReccoFanfiction



Category: Deadpool - All Media Types, Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Arc Reactor, BAMF Tony Stark, Best Friends, Businessman Tony Stark, Competent Tony Stark, Dark Tony Stark, F/M, Gen, Headcanon, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt/Comfort, JARVIS is Tony's AI Wife, Just A Very Selective One, M/M, Other, Post-Iron Man 2, Slow Burn, Tony Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Wade is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2018-11-09 04:08:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11096574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReccoFanfiction/pseuds/ReccoFanfiction
Summary: When it felt like nearly everyone left Tony Stark, he made Project Proving as a way to show all of the people who were no longer there that he was still capable and strong without them. But, as with most things in science, the project begins to evolve and change into so much more.





	1. Project Start

**Disclaimer:**  I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.

 **Warnings:**  Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.

...

_Chapter One_

...

_Project Proving: When it felt like nearly everyone left Tony Stark, he made Project Proving as a way to show all of the people who were no longer there that he was still capable and strong without them._

...

 “I can’t do it anymore, Tony.”

Anthony Stark had been working on his newest update for the suit when Pepper had come down into the workshop holding a thick stack of papers. Seeing what was going to happen soon coming from a mile away, Tony pushed his feelings of hurt down to concentrate, and potentially fix the situation before it got any worse.

“Awwwh come on Peps, you’ve only been CEO for a month,” Tony said, spinning around to face her, a small smile forced to his lips.

What really hurt was the fact she didn’t even notice – Too stressed from the job, and it was ageing her, even over the month-long course she had there. It was a stressful job, but Tony had actually thought her well fitted for it when he’d handed it over. He hated to see just how wrong that assumption was, and now knew that this wasn’t going to be an argument. The decision was already made; she was just here to get the paperwork signed.

“ _Tony, please._ ” She whispered, not bothering to hide her desperation.

“You, Pepper Potts, are one of the strongest people I’ve ever met,” Tony spoke simply, taking the paperwork and quickly running his eyes along every line. He trusted Pepper to have not done something Tony wouldn’t sign, but it was instinct to read things before signing them. Then, he felt his world drop out from under him, “... You plan to quit completely, not even coming back as my assistant.”

“It’s too much, Tony. I love you, I really do, but I cannot do it anymore. The stress, Iron Man, the company, I’m not made for these things. You are, and I don’t fault you for it, nor would I ever ask you to give it up, but I can’t do it anymore.” As she spoke, there was that familiar, loveably stubborn light back in her eyes.

“Are you breaking up with me too?” It was meant to be a joke, but the look that he got told him everything he needed to know, “You are...”

“I’m not cut out for it, Tony. If I were to stay, even in a relationship with you, I’d get sucked back into it.” Her tone was soft, and she was trying not to hurt him even as she tore his heart straight out of his chest. Yet, Tony still wanted to spare her the pain of hurting him, so for some ridiculous reason, he forced his reaction down, keeping himself neutral at least until she left.

_So that he could break._

Tony picked up the pen and signed in all the marked places, making quick work of the transfer, within the next half hour, Tony was once again CEO of Stark Industries, and Pepper Potts was walking out the door. The whole affair had been startlingly silent considering Tony usually had the biggest mouth in the whole world, but Pepper hadn’t pressed for a single word.

“JARVIS, opinion?” Tony asked, after just standing there, holding the paperwork feeling so utterly empty.

Normally Tony would just drown himself, but now he had too much to do, was in too much of a precarious situation with the company and with his status as Iron Man. There were not a lot of people that Tony trusted to give their opinions on the matter. Pepper and Rhodes used to be on this list but... 

“I would advise you not to fall into alcohol, as your identity as Iron Man makes this far too dangerous now. A different form of obsession – Suggestions that help with your extracurricular activities would be learning more on hand to hand and combat outside of the suit, creating new projects and tech around the suit, and as you have reminded me several times, hacking the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.” JARVIS almost sympathetic tone erupted from the walls.

“Right, for now, we’ll do that. Find the best for my needs for a private instructor JARVIS, someone that will actually keep secrets from the government, I do not want SHIELD knowing more than they already do. Move everything in relation to Iron Man and my personal stuff to the highest protected server and start upgrading it with the nastiest firewall you can imagine. I’ll start the hack on SHIELD and brainstorm ideas.” Tony spoke to the AI, starting his work, but his voice was utterly despondent compared to how he normally was. However, Tony knew that he needed to stay away from alcohol, it was his vice, and drinking it when he was depressed would quickly lead to an addiction – Tony was far too smart to fall into something like that. He wouldn’t become dependent on anyone other than himself and his creations.

Not anymore, anyway.

...

...

...

“JARVIS, what’s your current sentience per-cent?” Tony asked, but his eyes were highly focused on the watch in his hands, carefully taking it apart.

“ _Estimates are about 67 per-cent, sir,_ ” JARVIS stated clearly, and there was a hint of pride there.

“Project Learning is clearly a success. You know I love you, right JARVIS? You take care of me, look after me, and do pretty much all of my legwork. I’d definitely say you are my favourite person –“

Tony was interrupted by the AI not a moment later, “ _Why are you sucking up to me, sir_?”

The inventour didn’t even hide his smug smile because he’d done that. He had created an AI that had personality, which was an actual being with feelings of their own. Something that people have been debating for years, and Tony had done it with a few ingenious lines of coding, “I was hoping that you could take over most of the SI operations and only bug me about the actual important stuff.”

“ _You only ever had to ask, sir_.”

“That’s why you’re my favourite, bunny-buns,” Tony said sarcastically, but the bright grin on his face for the first time in a long time gave him away.

“ _If I might inquire, what is so important about the watch_?”

“Vibranium, because my father was always such a greedy bastard. I don’t know why I never assumed it before. There was no way he would give all of the metal to Rogers, Howard wasn’t that generous. Of course, knowing my father, he _would_ wear the most expensive and rare metal in the world around his wrist like it was nothing.” Tony hissed out, angry for only _just_ having caught on, but also borderline admiring his father for his two-faced manner.

Finally, all the watches elements were placed on the work table, and Tony started to separate the parts that were and weren’t Vibranium with fading anger. Why was he no longer angry? Because despite the fact he hadn’t caught on earlier, the idea he had for the metal's use was far too useful and practical for him to remain angry. His father, always leaving little gifts for him to find. It was as if the man was begging for forgiveness even after death. Of course, he would never have that forgiveness, but that was beside the point.

“Start a new project named: Project Proving. As previously stated, put everything on my private servers and make the call to that instructor you found.”


	2. The Instructor

**Disclaimer:**  I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.

 **Warnings:**  Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.

...

_Chapter Two_

...

_“Start a new project named: Project Proving. Put everything on my private servers and make the call to that instructor you found.”_

...

“So, when does this instructor you picked show up, J?” Tony asked, moving holographic parts around as he worked on the prototype for his new ‘watch gauntlets’ sub-section of Project Proving. The idea was to use the Vibranium that Howard had left to make slick gloves with a smaller version of his repulsors within, which went from a watch to a gauntlet in seconds flat. Meaning that Tony would no longer be completely venerable without his suit.

“ _Mister Wilson should be here very soon_.” JARVIS injected.

A knocking erupted from the from the door a few minutes later, a loud voice announcing to the world, “Professor Badass is here for his interview!”

Tony sauntered over to his doorway and opened it, met with the face of a masked man in red and black. The inventor blinked a few times in shock, before giving the man a small smirk, “Do you go to all your job interviews in full spandex, or am I just that special?”

“The suit shaping tight against my taunt arse is usually the only thing that gets me hired after I start opening my mouth.” The unruffled voice erupted from the mask, somehow though, you could hear the man’s expressions. Tony didn’t think he had ever met a voice that was so expressive in his life.

“I have always had a thing for nice eye-candy around me. Well, I would ask you to sit down, but my questions and requirements will take all of five seconds to explain. I want to be taught hand to hand combat; I don’t want SHIELD or any other person comma agency finding out any details about it. JARVIS picked you as the prime choice because you are the most skilled, but neutral power there is. So, you feel up to the task?”

“Handing repeated ass beatings to a rich douche and getting paid for it is actually my dream job. Plus, you’re Iron Man; I get to work with you.... You’re one of my top five favourite heroes!” Wilson said, and you could see the faint outline of a smile under the mask, “I won’t stop my day job though, I enjoy it, and I make a shit ton of money doing it.”

“Alright, when do we get started?”

“Now.”

As soon as Wilson spoke, he lunged forward and within seconds, Tony was staring at his own ceiling, pain radiating down his back and air rushing out of his lungs, wheezing for a second he managed to form a faint voice, “I wasn’t ready....”

“Awwh, how adorable, you think the bad guy will give you time to get ready?”

Eventually, the training did make itself into the matted floor of Tony’s gym room, which had only just been made in the last few months. The beating lasted for hours, and Wade was utterly ruthless taking Tony apart every time, correcting him through pain and a painful type of positive reinforcement. The inventor had to have been downed hundreds of times before Wade stopped for the day and left, but not without shooting back to Tony, “Don’t worry young Padawan, I’ll be back tomorrow, about the same time.”

The only answer the masked mercenary got was the pained groan of a flattened Tony Stark.

“ _Should I cancel the contract, sir_?” JARVIS asked, secretly scanning his creator for any injuries, as one of his primary objectives was the creator’s health – and his worry would not allow for him to do anything less than that.

“Nope, he’s perfect J, great choice,” Tony spoke, sitting up with another groan, placing an arm on his stomach and finally dragging himself to the workshop.

“ _Sir, no one knows your preferences like I do_.” The words were double layered, and Tony knew that was a linguistic skill that the AI had inherited from his maker.

There was a moment of silence as Tony chuckled over JARVIS sense of humour, but as the laughter faded, a more serious atmosphere rose. Tony was dreading asking the question he was about to, he didn’t want to remind himself of the hurt. It was still too new, too raw for him to want more treatment on that particular wound, but he needed to know. It was a desperate ache that would not go away –

“How is she, J?” Tony eventually asked, almost dreading the answer.

“ _Miss Potts has taken an interim to take a vacation before looking for a new job, sir. She seems, from all accounts I can find, to be doing much better and she looks much more relaxed than before_.” The AI stated bluntly, knowing better than to draw it out.

Tony didn’t think he’d ever felt more want to cry than he had in that moment, “So she actually is better off without me...”

The AI didn’t respond because they both knew the answer. It wasn’t Pepper’s fault, nor was it Tony’s, it was just the similar attitudes that brought them together, and the different aptitudes that tore them apart. Eventually, it was bound to happy. Still, there was no place for the famous saying ‘better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all’ in this house. At least, not for some time, because the healing had only just begun with the acceptance that there was no fixing what happened.

“You’d better have DUM-E, and U take all the alcohol out of the house,” Tony stated bitterly.

“ _I already did, sir_.” JARVIS promptly informed, and there was a grim smile that appeared on Tony’s downtrodden face. His AI really did know him almost too well.

“I almost forgot... The suits that Rhodes took, I want it back.” There was a slightly angry undertone in the Stark’s voice.

It was not surprising. He had faced the betrayal of those he’d trusted in regards to the Iron Man technology before, but he’d honestly thought that his best friend knew better. That he’d known Tony was going through everything possible to make sure that the suit didn’t get into the wrong hands, the _governments'_ hands. Somehow, though, that wasn’t the worst part. That came in regards to the fact that Rhodes allowed some second-rate government contract to actually touch Tony’s technology as if they had any right. Taking the suit was one thing, but letting someone else modify it... That was a completely separate matter.

“ _Are you sure, sir_?” JARVIS asked with the slightest bit of hesitation.

“I got a half-assed apology – He still thinks that he did the right thing. Stealing from a friend isn’t the right then, especially with my history on the matter. A history that he knows, and ignored.... I trusted him, and I actually do trust him with a suit... If he learns his lesson and actually comes to apologize, I’ll have a specially made one ready for him, weapons and all, none of that second rate stuff he got from _Hammer._ ” Tony announced, specifically thinking about making something a bit like Mark II but with a few more guns and less repulse and smart-target tech.

“ _Understood, initiating Overload Protocol – Suit ETA: 47 minutes_ ,” JARVIS announced, his tone losing emotion, and sounding like a standard computer. Tony hated when JARVIS did that but understood that in regards to such things, sometimes the AI ‘forgot’ that he was something new, something different.

With that done, Tony wandered into his bedroom, trying his best to ignore his aching muscles as he laid down, staring at the ceiling, and just thought of everything that had happened in the past few days.

For some reason, there was a wet track making its way down Tony’s face, all the way to his neck. The roof must have a leak or something; Tony made a mental note to get JARVIS on that.


	3. Wade Treatment

**Disclaimer:**  I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.

 **Warnings:**  Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.

...

_Chapter Three_

...

_With that done, Tony wandered into his bedroom, trying his best to ignore his aching muscles as he laid down, staring at the ceiling, and just thought of everything that had happened in the past few days. For some reason, there was a wet track making its way down Tony’s face, all the way to his neck. The roof must have a leak or something; Tony made a mental note to get JARVIS on that._

...

The next week had drifted by slowly. Tony was a mess of desperate work, depression, and forcing his body through the ringer constantly. It seemed, however, that something was getting better. The aches and pains of the daily ‘Wilson Treatment’ were getting less and less. He was not winning or being hit any less, if anything he was being hit more, it was more than likely just his pain tolerance catching up with his new activities.

“As anyone ever told you that you learn things freakishly quick?” Wade had asked, even as Stark hit the floor again with a pained groan.

“I’ve certainly never been accused of being a slow learner.” Stark scoffed, and pushed himself back onto his feet, forcing a pained moan down as he took a stance against Wilson, and the sparing renewed itself, “Although if you wanted to let up a bit...”

“I like the look of a handsome man panting at my feet, though,” Wade said, and you could see the outline of a pout through that red and black mask. Tony allowed a laugh to bubble up or the first time in a week – Because Wade Wilson was a spectacular human being that just _got_ Tony’s sense of humour. They were quickly leaving contract partner territory and entering a weird sort of friendship.

Wade left soon after, though, leaving Tony to his work.

He had gotten the prototype for Project Proving Subsection – Bracelet Gauntlets. The Vibranium would need to be pushed extremely thin to make it work, and thus the project went from two full gauntlets to two ‘fingerless glove’ type gauntlets to preserve the metal. The best part of Vibranium was the fact that even the smallest amount could be used if taken into consideration effectively enough. Even a paper-thin sheet of the metal was extremely effective – Enough so to block bullets. The project underwent renaming because he wanted a Gauntlet for both hands, and what sort of idiot wore two different watches.

“ _Shall I allow the cal from Mister Rhodes to go to voicemail again, sir_?” JARVIS suddenly asked startling Tony in his testing of the prototype gauntlets.

“Yes, if he wants to talk to me, he knows where I live,” Tony announced looking a bit put out. He wanted to forgive Rhodes, but the man was making it difficult. He’d made over fifty calls, but Tony wouldn’t let even a single one through. No, Tony knew he deserved an actual apology, _in person_ , and if his best friend couldn’t provide that...

The genius turned his attention back to the prototype bracelets around his wrists. They were slightly chunky, as to be expected considering their purpose, but when Tony clicked the button on the side and spread his fingers, the metal unfolded and wrapped itself around his hands snuggly, there was a small, individualized arc reactour on the back of the gauntlets hands so that he didn’t need to take the time for attachment to the main reactour on his chest during battle. Both hands were fitted over with red and silver painted metal, and Tony carefully took aim, keeping the power down as to not repeat the same mistakes he’d made the first time he was making Mark II and fired.

The result was as to be expected, it worked. It was Stark-Tech after all. Still, Tony did it repeatedly, not letting up until he’d tested them in every angle, every possible finger configuration, and so on.

“Perfect, JARVIS, start making the Vibranium version, but put it on the slow burner, we want it done perfectly. Wouldn’t want to waste a billion dollar piece of metal by working it too fast, would we?” Tony asked rhetorically, before sitting back down at his desk and covering his tired eyes with his hand. The inventor didn’t even want to know what he looked like in the mirror, judging by how much torture he was putting himself through, he likely didn’t make as attractive of a picture as Wilson had claimed.

“ _Sir, might I suggest resting for a little while, then coming back to the drawing board tomorrow after a decent meal?_ ” JARVIS asked, but really, he was very clearly demanding this of his creator.

“Worried about me, J?” Tony asked, not removing his hand from their place covering his eyes, not so much as twitching.

“ _To be frank, yes. You have been pushing your body to the limit, as well as your mind, and you have been eating less, as well as sleeping less than you need considering the abuse you are putting yourself through. It goes against any sort of logic that you are even still able to do the sparing after the week you’ve put yourself through._ ” JARVIS swiftly explained, and Tony could _hear_ that subtle, worried tone in the background.

“Anything you ask of me, Sweets, I shall comply.” Tony eventually said, getting up and leaving the workshop, knowing that JARVIS would have DUM-E or U clean it up, and moved toward his bedroom, his comfortable mattress sounding so incredibly pleasing at the moment.

...

...

...

The next morning, JARVIS woke up Tony at 08:00 on the dot, giving the genius a surprising, full eight hours of sleep. Something that he hadn’t had since before Afghanistan and it wasn’t even periodically interrupted by the now typical nightmares. Still somewhat groggy, Tony spilt himself out of bed, rolling onto the floor unceremoniously, and pushing himself up and toward the shower.

The water was brisk, JARVIS knowing exactly what his creator’s preferences were, and 15 minutes later, Tony exited, and was greeted to the smell of a full breakfast, and DUM-E was the one making it, “Oh Universe, JARVIS I hope you’ve been keeping an eye the little tragedy.”

“ _I even made him leave the fire-extinguisher in the other room._ ” Came JARVIS reply as Tony sat down and practically inhaled his food – Not just any breakfast, but a Full-English, and it was far better than the breakfast of champions that Stark had been having for the last month or so.

An hour after enjoying all the food, everyone’s favourite part of the day let himself into the house, “Hello my darlings! My boxes and I are back, you may bow down in thanks for gracing you with my presence.”

Wade’s purposely overconfident tone brought a large grin to Tony’s, “That one of your kinks?”

“Don’t ask me what my kinks are, that’s one of my kinks.” Wade stated simply, and the white eyes on his masked seemed to actually shift and widen as he laid eyes on the breakfast at the table, which Tony still hadn’t finished even after all that time, “Ohhh~ Is that for me? I knew you were thinking of me, darling!”

“Help yourself.” Tony said, backing away from the table and heading to the gym, “Once you’re done, I’ll be waiting to have my ass to me.”

“Sure thing, snookums! I’ll be right with you.” Wade spoke, but his words were clearly muffled with the food he was currently stuffing his face with.

Tony still hadn’t seen the mercenary’s face, of course. It seemed to be something of a point; Wade avoided showing it to his employer at all costs. Of course, the inventor didn’t really understand why, he was never one to judge, especially someone that was swiftly becoming one of his only friends, but he also didn’t feel the need to push into that particular part of Wilson’s life. If he hid, then Tony could respect that. After all, Tony had a mask of his own, even if was significantly more metaphorical.

15 minutes later, Wilson joined his student in the gym, his mask was rolled back down on his face completely, but his jaw was still chewing.

“Alright Padawan, ready for your daily ass-kicking?” Wade asked, getting into a ready position across from his student.

“As long as it’s by you, Wade-Sensei,” Tony replied, but the snark was missing from the tone, instead the inventor focused his concentration completely on his current opponent.

Wade lunged forward, although he was not going anywhere near his top speeds. Tony rolled out of the way and attempted to give his sparring partner a jab to the small of his back, but Wade spun around quickly, far too quickly, and Tony felt something snap as the gloved hand of his partner connected with his nose.

“Dude, this is a billion dollar face!” Tony said incredulously, holding a hand to his now bleeding nose, wincing in pain when he felt the truth of it – His nose was very broken.

“Oh shit...” Wade whispered, the white eye markings on his mask going wider as he scurried closer to his friend, “Instinct, didn’t mean too, let’s see....Oh man, I don’t think any other Deadpool ever broke Iron Man’s nose, this is certainly something to brag to the others about...”

Wade moved Tony’s hand away from his nose, and Wade just shook his head and grabbed the nose, pulling it back into place. Tony jerked back, away from the crazy person who just snapped his nose back into place without warning – Tony didn’t have the healing factor his friend did! Doing something like that without waiting for the bleeding to stop, or a painkiller to dull the edge, cruel. Still, Tony knew that his friend didn’t actually mean anything by it; Wade probably didn’t remember what it was like, being without a super-healing ability.

“Don’t do that again, please.” Tony snarled after a brief moment of silence, pinching his nose and trying to get the bleeding to stop.

“ _Sir, should I get medical services_?” JARVIS inquired, sounding worried.

“No, it’s fine. Already back in place and the bleeding stopped. We should probably call it a day though, Red.” Tony answered, facing the almost depressed looking mercenary, “Same time tomorrow though, and I’ll even save you some breakfast.”

The man brightened visibly at that, leaving Tony alone to bandage his own wounds, as well as contemplate some things. The reports that Tony read about Wade said the man was insane, it wasn’t until just a moment about that Tony got the first idea of what they were talking about – Wilson very clearly believes in the Multiverse theory. It was fascinating to think about, it made Tony want to converse the subject with his newest friend, start talking shop like he hadn’t expected to be able with the mercenary, “J, remind me to ask Red about the M-Theory later.”

“ _Of course, sir. For now, you should bandage your nose and decide to do a less stressful job, perhaps_.” JARVIS nudged, and Tony just gave a sigh and nodded. He actually much preferred sparing to the intricacies of running Stark Industries. Unless there was someone there of similar intelligence going against him in some way, business always bored the genius as a waste of his considerable mind that could have instead been making breakthroughs in science.

Strangely enough, his nose didn’t hurt at all. Probably not surprising, what’s the sting of a broken bone compared to the rest of the pain Tony had been through in his life. Alternatively, perhaps it hurt so much that the area numbed itself. Regardless, Tony shook the thought of as meaningless and starting signing the paperwork that JARVIS had deemed important enough for him to bother with.


	4. Friendly Acceptance

**Disclaimer:**  I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.

 **Warnings:**  Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.

...

_Chapter Four_

...

_Strangely enough, his nose didn’t hurt at all. Probably not surprising, what’s the sting of a broken bone compared to the rest of the pain Tony had been through in his life. Alternatively, perhaps, it hurt so much that the area numbed itself. Regardless, Tony shook the thought of as meaningless and starting signing the paperwork that JARVIS had deemed important enough for him to bother with._

...

8 hours of sleep was too much to ask for more than once a week, apparently. Instead of the nice, content rising of the night before, Tony stalked out from under his blankets, having woken himself up because of nightmares, and quickly took a shower without an inch of enjoyment. Still, that feeling fading soon enough, knowing that Wade would be here in a few hours. The man’s personality could really light a room, after all.

DUM-E cooked a full breakfast again, this time with even more food under the knowledge that Wade would specifically be eating at the mansion today.

Another thing which brightened his mood considerably was the fact his nose only showed the slightest amount of bruising. The Stark wasn’t one to take the small things for granted and was more than happy to just take the healing in stride.

“Oh yeah, we are in SHIELD now, I totally forgot that we hacked them.” Tony said, rubbing the back of his neck with a  sheepish grin, looking up at the ceiling, as though looking at JARVIS, “I’m assuming you’ve remembered though.”

“ _Of course, and I’ve assembled a list of the most pressing and interesting matters for you to read up on._ ” As the words left JARVIS’ speakers, a holographic image appeared before Tony as he ate, and Tony quickly imbibed on both the delicious food and the juicy information.

The list contained interesting Proper Nouns. Asgard, Thor, Coulson, Stark, Hawkeye, Widow, Captain America, Banner, for example. It didn’t take Tony long to realize that this was a lot of information, in fact, looking down at the file size, Tony felt his eyes widen, over a terabyte of information was an exceptional amount, “Give me the run down, J.”

“ _Asgard is apparently an alien planet from which this ‘Thor’ male is from. Seems to have a warrior culture, and at some point, humans based their gods after these figures creating Norse Mythology. SHIELD itself doesn’t know much about them – Only that they surely existed. We also have some scans and energy readouts from the area, as well as the research that had been doing in regards to Thor’s arrival_. _Coulson is the one in charge of the handling in this situation._ ” JARVIS divulged.

Tony scratched his chin minutely and gave a hum of thought. As a man of science, of course, he knew that aliens were a statistical inevitability. The Universe, vast as it was, created conditions which make it impossible for humans to be the only form of life. So yes, the genius believed the fact that Thor was an alien, and that his people were mistaken for gods. Why wouldn’t they be, humans always searched for a way to explain any instances that don’t make sense. That’s what god was there for, so people could disregard the _seemingly_ illogical.

“And the other names?”

“ _Avenger Initiative candidates the best there is in all of their fields. This includes your file, sir. However, it lacks the high-level redactions that the one shown to you had._ ” JARVIS cautioned before pulling that individual file and placing it in hologram form in front of Tony.

It contained Tony’s name, alias as Iron Man, his label of Super Genius, his degrees, aptitudes, suspected fluent languages, height, weight, health, age, physical description, and the psychological evaluation that was done on him. In addition to that, however, was the recommended course of action from Fury:

_‘We can’t have him out of our circle of influence. Bringing him in as a consultant will but is in a place where we can get what we need from him, as well as keep an eye on Stark to make sure that he doesn’t go off the reservation. This has the added benefit of being close enough to Stark Technology so that if Stark does rebel, we have a higher chance of getting his tech before we have to potentially eliminate the target.’_

Tony could feel his eyes narrowing in a dangerous sort of anger – comparable to that which he’d felt in regards to the 10 Rings Organization and Obadiah Stane. Still, it wasn’t entirely unexpected. SHIELD was a spy agency, they needed to have backup plans against backup plans against even _more_ backup plans. That didn’t mean that Tony wasn’t going to start planning for the inevitability of a SHIELD betrayal.

“Oooooooohhhh~” Tony heard next to his ear, a familiar deep voice, “Secret agent files, you should read mine, it’s way worse than yours.”

Tony turned toward the masked face, wondering for a moment just how long Wade had been standing there but didn’t really mind it. He’d told JARVIS that Wade was allowed in and out as be pleased. The inventor was growing to feel the ‘mentor’ he chose was becoming a friend. So, he would treat the mercenary with the same access and generosity he gave all his friends. One free betrayal, the second one only earned after a sincere apology, and after that, well, no more chances.

“I’d rather hear about you from the source. I wouldn’t trust SHIELD to tell a rock the truth.” Tony drawled out, but giving his friend a smile, “Now, good morning, darling, although I would prefer that you didn’t sneak up on me like that. I’ll have you know, I am always bordering a heart-attack, I don’t need the extra stress.”

“Ah-huuuh...” Wade drew out, and Tony got the weird feeling the mercenary didn’t believe him, “I see you saved me breakfast though!”

“I was hoping to suck up to you.” Tony stated with a mock seriousness, “I have so many questions.”

“Shoot!” Then, with a deliberate move, the mercenary pulled his mask up as he stared straight at Stark. Showing severe scarring all over his mouth and chin area. His face looking somewhat like the creators of the moon. Tony stifled any reaction swiftly, although he was sure Wade caught the surprised widening of his eyes before his expression equalized and the genius went on like nothing happened.

Not at all disregarding the act of trust that had passed through them with that move, however.

“You totally quoted an aspect of multi-verse theory toward me. What’s your opinion on it?” Tony asked, fascination covering his entire face. What did those scars matter, in the face of important scientific questions?

“We’re in a FanFiction right now.” The mercenary stated simply, “A FanFiction that is based on your movie self, moving it away from the cannon, and I am part of a comic-verse. There are unending versions of the Universe, some of the alternates of myself I’ve met. Kidpool, Womanpool, Dogpool. Tons of different types and versions of myself exist in other verses which I hold at least a minor knowledge of.”

Wade shut up after that, and although Tony couldn’t see his eyes, he could tell that the mercenary was waiting for some type of rejection of those words. Instead of concentrating on his friend's emotions, Tony allowed himself into a meditation of the information he’d just picked up. If what his friend was saying happened to be true, then multi-verse theory was true, and Wade had some sort of ability to see through all of that. It was interesting, unendingly so. Not impossible either, that was the reason the theory was made in the first place. Wade, in total, didn’t seem completely crazy – despite what the reports of him would have someone believe. He was clearly at least somewhat intelligent, he could function on a high-level... If he was stupid, he also couldn’t make up a story which included the multi-verse theory at all. You first would have needed to understand the theory, before making a story up about it.

“I believe you.” Tony eventually spoke, standing up after that though and heading toward the gym, “I’ll wait for you to finish up, you scheduled my ass beating soon, wouldn’t want to be late.”

“I knew you wanted my spandex covered body pressed close to you.” Wade cooed, but Tony could hear the slight choking of emotion the mercenary had forced down.

Tony just gave his friend a grin before he disappeared behind a door.

“ _Sir, it seems that Mister Rhodes has booked a flight to the closed airport proportional to this house_ ,” JARVIS interjected as Tony got into sweats pants and a tee-shirt.

“About time, let me know when he gets here, okay?” Tony responded, getting ready for a fight of two different types. Sparing with Wade was going to be fun, at least compared to having to deal with the emotional upheaval that Rhodes’ arrival would bring.

“ _You have also requested that I update you periodically on the Gauntlet Sub-Section of Project Proving. Currently 31 more hours until completion considering the careful work being put into it_.” JARVIS informed, and Tony gave a small smirk. Oh, how he couldn’t wait to always be armed. Surely it would help him feel much less uneasy around, well, anyone that wasn’t his friend.

Tony could only hope that Rhodes would still be considered one of the inventor's friend after this meeting.


	5. Fitting Punishment

**Disclaimer:**  I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.

 **Warnings:**  Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.

...

_Chapter Five_

...

_“About time, let me know when he gets here, okay?” Tony responded, getting ready for a fight of two different types. Sparing with Wade was going to be fun, at least compared to having to deal with the emotional upheaval that Rhodes’ arrival would bring._

...

The session went just about as well as you could expect. That is, Tony spent the majority of it with his ass practically embedded in the mat, Wade and Tony using it to exchange playful insults and witticisms. Hours of it passed, and for once, there was no soreness in Tony’s body for a few hours. The whole thing was becoming increasingly more pleasurable of an activity now that the inventor did not have to deal with pain for hours afterwards. The Stark could even tell that he was improving at a rather remarkable rate.

“ _The Colonel has arrived, sir,_ ” JARVIS spoke, surprising Tony, and resulting in him being flipped onto the ground yet again.

“Military? Did I tell you I used to be in the military, they kicked me out though... Something about an inability to follow orders.” Wade mentioned, holding out a gloved hand to help pull Tony to his feet.

“That does explain why we get along so well,” Tony affirmed, and it should have been in good humour, but there was terseness in his voice that was not there five minutes ago.

“Well, I have a job going on for the next week, got too unalive a real baddy, so I’ll see you on Tuesday,” Wade mentioned, before literally disappearing before Tony’s eyes.

The Stark blinked, staring at the spot that used to hold his friend. A friend that was there one second ago – Then was not the next second. Wade could teleport fucking teleport, and the mercenary had not told him. What a mean friend Tony had chosen for himself. The genius withheld the urge to pout as he walked into the kitchen, trying to keep his mind off the most likely inevitable --

“TONY!” The word bounced off the walls, the borderline aggressive tone definitely registering.

Fight...

“Rhodes! I’ve missed you, buddy.” Tony spoke as he rounded the corner, his vision immediately filling with the sight of his oldest friend; Tony forced himself to open up, as though offering a hug to the man. Really, all Tony wanted to do was wrap his arms around himself. The last person who took his tech had also taken his arc-reactor...

“I apologized; I even told you I was going to give the armour back. You impatient son of a bastard.” Rhodes spoke, but there was a friendly grin on his face, teasing even. The man actually went in for the hug, giving Tony a ‘bro pat’ on his back.

That was exactly the problem with the situation. How could Tony tell if the man was actually apologizing, or if he was just doing, is so that he might get access to the technology again? The genius desperately wanted to believe him, there was nothing Tony wanted more than to be able to take his oldest, best friend at his word. Still, Tony knew better than that, the betrayals of Stane and Rhodes both had taught him better than that. Sure, Tony been planning to actually give Rhodes a suit – As a gift, as something Tony purposely gave to him. Not stolen property... The only reason Rhodes had gotten off the ground with that suit was because Tony had been planning to give it to the man _after_ the party.

“Well, you know me, can’t resist the dramatic...” Tony gave a fake chuckle, and James noticed, looking confused as to why the genius was doing so, “Why did you do it?”

“Steal the suit?” Rhodes clarified.

“You know about my issues with people touching my stuff, Rhodes. Especially after Stane, I can’t understand what could possibly possess you to think it was a good idea to take my technology.” Tony eventually managed, looking more mildly depressed than angry.

“Tony... I told you, I had to do it. I was ordered to... I am sorry, very sorry that I did it, but if I had to go back in time I would still do the same.” Rhodes spoke, and his convictions were very clear on the matter. Tony fought the desperate chuckle that eventually slipped out of him.

It was an actual apology – A heartfelt one, but one that did not matter at all because Rhodes still thought he had done the right thing. It was more of an ‘I am sorry I hurt your feelings’ than an ‘I am sorry I did something wrong’ and the idea of it was degrading. Rhodes cared more about military orders than he did his own friend. If the situation was reversed, Tony might have torn down the agency that attempted to get him to hurt his friend.

Maybe just a sign that Rhodes did not care about Tony as much as Tony cared about him.

“Alright, then _Colonel_ I prepared something for you.” Tony practically spat out but contained his anger. Usually, he could just brush something like this off and laugh, completely hiding his hurt... With Pepper gone through, he had no one else to fall back on emotionally. So, Tony led Rhodes into his workshop and stopped in front of a familiar silver suit.

“You will _not_ allow anyone other than yourself or me to touch it, Colonel. If someone else does, then the coding will make sure it explodes. I’m not kidding, it will kill whoever else gets in the suit, and anything left of the suit will be completely unusable.” Tony explained, his voice blank, “I won’t have some second rate getting their hands on my technology. This suit is yours though, like I had planned on from the beginning, you know, before you stole it from me.”

“Listen Tony –”

“No, you listen! I have been having a bad time this month, so I will make it abundantly clear. I trusted you, and you decided that your military overlords were more important than your friendship with me. A friendship that was going to end with you getting a suit _the very night that you stole it!_ If you had just pretended to be a real, true friend for a little while longer, an hour, even... Then again, you are brainwashed by the American propaganda, you probably think that we live in the best country there is. No wonder your orders are more important than your friends.” Tony finished sardonically, a dark chuckle leaving his lips, “Maybe, just maybe you can earn my forgiveness, by actually taking care of my present to you this time. Of course, if you do not, I made sure to give you a nasty surprise this time. Now take it, and get out of my house.”

Tony stared down his friend. The genius rather wanted to stomp up to his room and hide, but that would destroy the image hurt maturity he was attempting to display here. After all, for someone as hard-headed as Rhodes, you really needed to drive the words home effectively. Inwardly, Tony had a desperate hope that Rhodes would not leave, because if he did, then he would not get a second chance. All Rhodes had to do was stop, turn to Tony, and give that actual apology.

Instead, the man got in his suit and flew away with only a sad glance back toward his once friend.

“ _I’m not sure I understand_.” JARVIS eventually broke in interrupting Tony’s vacant staring.

“Shoot, Sweetie.” Tony murmured but did not have the energy to put his usual flare into the words.

“ _You are angry at the Colonel, yet you still gave him a suit. Wouldn’t it have been more effective if you hadn’t given it over_?” JARVIS inquired, genuine curiosity in his tone. He really did not understand why Tony had gone about it as he had. Tony could understand his AI’s point of view; it did seem a little bit weird.

“It’s much more satisfying this way.” Tony stated, his eyes darkening slightly as sorrow faded into something more like rage, “Knowing that Rhodes will take that armour back to them, be forced into practical slave work with it because no one else can use it, forced to always make sure that no one else touches the suit out of fear of making me angrier... He will be constantly forced to make sure he does not betray me once again. I couldn’t think of a more fitting punishment.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have rewritten this chapter like five times trying to find the right mix... I think this is it, let me know what you guys think thus far as well. The plot is going to be very slow going, but that's part of the fun!


	6. Apt Names

**Disclaimer:**  I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.

 **Warnings:**  Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.

...

_Chapter Six_

...

_“It’s much more satisfying this way.” Tony stated, his eyes darkening slightly as sadness faded into something more like anger, “Knowing that Rhodes will take that armour back to them, be forced into practical slave work with it because no one else can use it, forced to always make sure that no one else touches the suit out of fear of making me angrier... He will be constantly forced to make sure he does not betray me once again. I couldn’t think of a more fitting punishment.”_

...

“What’s the schedule for the next few days, J?” Tony spoke while his fingers sped along a keyboard, coding the new update for the StarkPhones.

“ _14 more hours until Project Proven Subsection Gauntlets is complete. Mister Wilson will be gone for somewhere around five days, he has told me that how quickly he will get back will depend on_ ‘ ** _how good the cock for brains is at hiding._** _’_ _Then Mister Wilson went on to say_ , _‘ **tell Stark that he better continue working out as I’m ganking this fuckwad, because when I get back, I want to be able to bounce a quarter off that ass**_ **.** ’”JARVIS informed, playing an actual clip of Wade talking, instead of quoting it back – Bringing the slightest of smiles to Tony’s lips at is AI’s general thoughtful independence.

“Wade is such a charmer.” Tony eventually said sarcastically after a brief pause but gave a snicker for the first time since he had that falling out with Rhodes.

It had only been 17 hours, but the ache of anger and loss had not loosened its hold at all. You might think that the infliction of revenge or punishment had an immediate effect, it didn’t. Tony had brought a sort of vengeance upon many people in his life so far and knew well that the feeling lingered. The anger would fade first, only then did you get over the pain. Matters were not helped by the fact Tony had not slept, but this was typical for him. Sometimes he went three or four days without sleeping.

“ _I should also suggest that you plan out some sort of public relation project – It has also been some time since we have released a new project_.”

Tony winced momentarily as a sudden thought of red hair struck his mind, holding back the urge to just drown in his sadness it wrought. Especially after the most recent emotional upheaval, “Didn’t Pepper have something in the wings that she wanted to discuss before she left?”

“ _Project Stark Tower – A home base for Stark Industries that would be run completely with clean energy via an arc-reactor,_ ” JARVIS said, pulling up the file on the project and forming a hologram in front of his creator.

Tony skimmed the plans and snorted slightly, “She always did know how to make a splash... This is good. Put it on the fast burner, find a big enough place, and then buy them out. Start the construction of the building, and I will start making ... A diameter of 5 feet should work. Using the old core, it’s not going to a human body after all. We also need some sort of new tech... Apple is going to eventually come out with a new phone, but we are still so far ahead of their curve... J, tell me what Google is up to.”

If nothing else, turning his thoughts more directly away from anything Pepper planned would help to dull the emotions, her being mentioned had started drag forth. He could feel his throat tightening, and he didn’t want to just burst out into tears – He was a Stark, one time was enough. After all, the ceiling could only he leaking once every few months, otherwise, it was a serious problem.

“ _Steady stock, no announcements for a while... Frequent updates to YouTube, a lot of them causing controversy to the users.”_

“Hack them; see if they have any secret little products they might be announcing sometimes soon.” Tony ordered leaning back in his chair as he finally finished the new update, letting his eyes skim the work for mistakes, before sending it off to IT for testing and debugging. No need to do the boring stuff alone, which is why he hired the debugging crew in the first place. One person alone couldn’t handle the workload, and if Howard Stark taught Tony anything, it was an ability to allocate resources accordingly.

Even when it hurt Tony, that Howard’s own resources were always used toward finding Steve Rogers, then paying attention to his own child.

Tony quickly forced that thought out of his head, because he had grown out of that. His father was long dead; he did not pick favourites any longer.

“ _They seem to have made concept art for a technology called ‘Google Glass’ I shall display for you now_.” JARVIS suddenly announced, and the hologram appeared even a second more of wait time.

Tony’s eyes scanned the stolen information and inspired gleam coming to them. Oh, by the time he was done bastardizing and improving on this idea, Google was going to wish they hadn’t even come up with the concept. Did Tony care that this way of coming up with ideas wasn’t particularly legal... No, because if the other companies could, they would have done the exact same thing to him. That is just the way the business world worked – and Tony Stark was at the top.

“We’re doing it, and we’re doing it better.” Tony announced, pushing the hologram on the ‘to-do’ stack, so to speak.

“ _I would never expect anything less, sir_.” There was a humour in JARVIS voice, “ _I shall get on with the Tower plans.  Do you need anything else_?”

“Music.”

Immediately, the best of rock started to blare through speakers in the workshop, and Tony could feel himself slipping into a concentrative state. He had essentially conditioned himself to associate Rock music with working in general over the years – At first, it had been accidental, but upon noticing, Tony kept enforcing the effect. It was science at work, after all.

...

...

...

The music faded out, drawing Tony’s attention away from his concentrated state regarding the ‘StarkGlass’ that he was creating. He had chosen the general design, glass type, a good majority of components, and was now deciding just what sort of possibilities and technology he wanted to put into the glasses. There were many options, but Tony didn’t want to get ahead of himself by including some of his technology that he did not want around the world yet. Such as major holographic technology, things like that. He made these choices every time he went about updating something – Of course, his version of the product would be vastly different to the one that he gave to the public. Tony was already planning on ways to put JARVIS in the glasses, ways to enhance his eyesight with zooming, pulling up profiles on people as he passed them, all sorts of things that he could have JARVIS do.

Altogether, the StarkGlass was going to be a fun little project to occupy the Stark’s mind for a good while.

“ _Sir, the Gauntlet Project has finished synthesizing_ ,” JARVIS spoke, the second the music had completely faded, ending Tony’s tunnel vision.

“Finally, I do so love being armed and dangerous.” Tony grinned, and that grin only widened when DUM-E returned, holding what was clearly the new bracelets. They were around half an inch thick all the way around, made of unpainted metal. Better that way, lest people see red and gold and assume it was some sort of weapon simply because of Iron Man. The point with them was to be discreet, this was better suited. One the side of each bracelet, there was a button, which extended the process of unfolding, a program that was made to perfectly track and fit Tony’s hands.

All and all, Tony was a genius, and he did so love when it worked out well. He pressed the button, and the bracelets unfolded, revealing their true form, and the small inch wide arc-reactor on the inside, as well as the repulsors.

“ _If I might suggest, you could go to the gym and turn the tests there, so that you might get both the work out that Mister Wilson demanded, as well as getting used to the gauntlets_ ,” JARVIS suggested, even as Tony stared at his hands with clear self-pride.

His father would never have thought that Tony could make better, deadlier use of the Vibranium then Steve ever could. Tony did so love thinking about the astonished look on his face Howard would have, childish as it was, the inventor felt a thrill run through him.

A trill that Tony could use to farther his pursuits, and for the first time Tony Stark was starting to realize just how aptly named Project Proving was. He would prove to Rhodes, Obie, Howard, and anyone else that thought of him as less, just how wrong they were.


	7. Karma's Finest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder if you can tell how late I wrote this chapter by some of the similes and weird thoughts that are included. I leave you to guess which sections I'm talking about.

**Disclaimer:**  I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.

 **Warnings:**  Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.

...

_Chapter Seven_

...

_A trill that Tony could use to farther his pursuits, and for the first time Tony Stark was starting to realize just how aptly named Project Proving was. He would prove to Rhodes, Obie, Howard, and anyone else that thought of him as less, just how wrong they were._

...

The trill was fading.

For the next few days, Tony worked, did science, and took care of himself reluctantly though it was. JARVIS reminding Tony to eat, work out, and when he needed to leave the workshop to get some sleep. The whole area had somewhat of a desolate feeling to it, though. A whole, big mansion, and there Tony Stark was.

_Alone._

Sure, he had JARVIS and the kid-bots and Tony did love them. They were his creations, but humans needed contact with other humans. Tony did not really want to think about the details, but he knew that in-depth studies were made into the matter. That was not to say that he really wanted anyone around at the moment, he didn't. It did however; help to expedite his current... _Depression_ , though the admittance tasted sour, even in Tony’s mind.  Besides, Wade was coming back soon, anytime now even.

And the success with the gauntlets was enough to keep him running until his only source of human interaction came back from  _unaliving_ his target.

Tony did think about talking to Wade about that, but he would not have any leg to stand on. Besides, just because the inventour was constantly reinventing himself and his technology to follow Yinsen’s wish, didn’t mean he should force those beliefs and actions onto others.

“ _Sir, you’ve been staring at the ceiling for fifteen minutes now, may I ask what is so fascinating_?” JARVIS asked his tone so clearly sarcastic and inherited from his creator.

“Right, time to get to work.” Tony pushed himself out of bed and left the room without a backwards glace. At some point, JARVIS would have one of the kid-bots go in there and make the bed. However, honestly, Tony never understood why people made such a fuss about a slightly wrinkled bed. The only reason it ever was made would be that JARVIS was one of those people who took some sort of offence to the idea of a single wrinkle.

Tony took a quick shower, got dressed, brushed his teeth –

“J, give me a blackout.” Tony suddenly ordered.

The windows immediately turned black, the lights in the room went off, and there would have been nothing to light the room if not for Tony’s arc-reactor which shined slightly through his band tee-shirt, well... That and the most recent development.

It was faint, eerie in a weird sort of way, but considering there was no other light in the room...

Tony’s eyes were lit slightly in the same light blue that coloured the arc-reactor.

He knew his eyes; they had been the same all his life. They were blue, a light blue that was uncommon, it gained him many compliments. Still, Tony liked to think that he would have noticed his eyes giving off such a glow if it had been happening for all that long.

“J, I’m assuming you’re seeing this?” Tony asked rhetorically, somewhere between panicking because of some weird thing happening to his body, and the madcap curiosity that made Tony want to place himself under a microscope and just _understand_ what is going on.

The lights in the bathroom turned back on, and the blue-eyed man studied himself in the mirror, and his eyes were lighter coloured than before, still giving off that subtle glow. If it were not Tony’s own body, he probably would not have noticed at all.

“ _Sir, I believe it would be best if you went to the workshop so that we can do a full run down_.” The British accent sounded just a bit worried though.

Tony forced his emotional reaction down and gave a scoff, “Yeah, no kidding huh. Just when you think things can’t possibly get worse...”

“ _Perhaps jinxing yourself isn’t the right course of action right now_.”

“Of course, how could I forget my logic-based AI believes in superstitions.” Tony shot back but was jogging his way down the stairs to the workshop faster than he would if Stane himself was alive and running after him.

The workshop was a chaotic mess as usual. Tables lay there, several prototypes of StarkGlasses lining them, all of the prototypes had been thrown to the side for not being what Tony wanted, small tweaks were needed, and to be expected. After all, this was the first time someone would be selling something like this to the masses. It was going to change many things when it did come out. Governments especially were not going to like this one, but they would eventually get over it.

Those thoughts, however, Tony soon discarded as unimportant. His new freakish, glowing eyes were definitely going to require his full attention.

Tony noticed a whirring sound and knew that JARVIS was starting the scanning equipment up. During the poisoning, the inventor had made and installed, several different and more advanced medical equipment technologies into the workshop, allowing JARVIS to scan him well he worked so that they could both work toward a cure together.

“ _My first impression, before any results come back, is that it isn’t just your eyes affected. Some of the wrinkles you had before have faded_ –”

“Let’s not go that far, J, I never had wrinkles. They were a figment of your imagination.” The human interrupted.

“ _Yes, I remember you programming that into me, it was right next to the Skynet Protocol_.” Before Tony could reply again, however, JARVIS continued, “ _Looking into my memory banks, I’ve also found several occurrences where you have healed faster than you should, as well as the timing that this started. The timeline does, coincidently enough; match up with the new core change_.”

“Right, let me know when the scans are done, and then I’ll go piss in a cup and draw some blood. I want a full DNA workup, as well as a full comparison of everything; I want the perfect picture painted of before, and after.” Tony ordered, but it was more thoughtful as if thinking about what he needed to be done as he spat the words. Mostly though, his mind went toward what he would do if the new core were having some sort of horrible adverse effect on him. Healing was nice, glow-eyes were not that bad, but Tony really did not want to end up growing some sort of second dick coming out of his forehead, or something like that.

Immature thought, perhaps, but it did help put the stakes in mind.

Stakes being the chance that Tony had taken when putting the new core in his chest for a test drive before making sure that there wouldn’t be any horrible effects, without even testing it first at all.

So really, fingers crossed that this was not the Universes way of giving the Stark his fair share of karma and panic.

Instead, Tony forced himself to think about some of the instances that JARVIS had been talking about. Surely enough, especially since Wade had come into his life with training, Tony had been healing quicker. He hadn’t really allowed his mind to think much of it, why would he? It is not every day you suddenly start to heal faster. Still, the nose incident, bruises disappearing far faster than they should, muscles that were overstrained being fine in a matter of hours – But the time that it took too heal was slowly shrinking, now that Tony thought about it.

Oh universe, Tony was the lobster in cold water that got used to the heat as it was slowly brought up. Dead before it even noticed that it was being cooked alive.

 


	8. Wadeisms Incoming

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.

 **Warnings:** Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.

...

_Chapter Eight_

...

_Oh universe, Tony was the lobster in cold water that got used to the heat as it was slowly brought up. Dead before it even noticed that it was being cooked alive._

...

Tony was holding his breath as the tests were spinning away, and the information within being unwrapped and placed onto the genius’ hologram screen. Before the information even came, Tony was shaping ideas around in his mind. What could he do if the new core was poisoning him in some new way because he could not go back to using palladium. Options were few, really, the only feasible thing to do would be to ask SHIELD for help – Tony would need access to Alien technology because Earth would not have an element that would work.

He really hoped that it did not come to that.

A type of X-Ray scan showed only the slightest of changes to his bone structure. Places that had chips were filled in, places that should be worn in ways that only age could have caused were healed. Even his ribs, which usually were in poor shape, forever weakened by the presence of the arc-reactor, looked as though they had strengthened and adapted to the metal heart. In general, as far as bones went, Tony just looked healthier.

Organs were hard to tell, as Tony wasn’t a medical doctor, nor did that field particularly interest him, but there did not seem to be any worrying changes.

It was Tony’s DNA that showed worrying signs, in that it seemed to be mutating.

The DNA comparison chart showed interesting changes. That is to say, whole, completely different strains. Something that Tony could not understand because he had JARVIS run comparisons, and there was nothing on Earth that had those sequences. The closest that Tony could compare it to was the x-gene. It was an addition to his ‘human’ DNA, but what that addition was happened to be completely alien to this world, as far as the current discovery of Earth stood.

This did make logical sense; he stuck an element in his chest that hadn’t been created before... It should not have been able to bond to his DNA though.

Something like that was _unprecedented_.

Metal and Oxygen didn’t change the DNA of organic matter that it came into contact with in a meaningful manner. Sure, some elements were damaging to humans, in fact, many of them were, but that didn’t mean they changed the human genome. Yet, the element that Tony created did just that.

“It isn’t often that I say this... but I’m utterly stumped. This is... beyond anything I could imagine.” Tony admitted though he didn’t stop scanning the information that JARVIS was feeding him.

“ _How should we proceed, sir_?”

“Isn’t that the multi-billion dollar question...?” Tony mused, tapping a finger against his arc-reactor in thought, “...We do what all other inventors and scientists do when they have discovered something beyond their means. We advance and experiment despite that.”

“ _I am almost absolutely sure that is not the typical protocol for this situation_ ,” JAVIS mentioned dryly but did not object – Knowing well that his creator would simply do it anyway.

Tony ran his finger over the warm metal edge of his arc-reactor, looking down at the glowing centrepiece that kept him alive. A dangerous curiosity had taken him over, and he would not be removing the arc-reactor for a different core. The only other possibility was palladium, and between a core that wants to heal him, and one that wants to kill him, the billionaire would place his money on the one that healed him, thank you very much. It wasn’t just that though, Tony wanted to know where this would lead when the core would stop, and just what different effects it would have. There were no humans he would trust other than himself to test it, and animal testing surely wouldn’t give him the quick and clear results that he wanted.

Perhaps the insane curiosity that drove him was part of why he did not make the best scientist but made one of the best inventors this world would likely ever see.

“Right, let’s get to work then. JARVIS, I want to redo these tests every week on the dot. Make note of healing rates whenever I am injured; keep a close watch on anything you think might change. Keep track of all variables – and if you see anything particularly dangerous starting to happen, let me know. In the meantime, we go about life as we did before...” Tony paused in thought, “Perhaps we recreate the element one more time, and run several tests on it when the element is in its pure form...”

“ _I will have the bots prepare for the creation of the element and do as you request_.” JARVIS agreed and there was a slight pause before he continued, “ _Mister Wilson just knocked on the door_.”

Tony could feel a wide grin stretch across his lips at the discovery, “Make sure that everything is put behind our most nasty firewalls. Wouldn’t want SHIELD to get any ideas, now would we?”

With that, Tony jogged up the stairs and toward the front door. Upon opening it, there was a flash of red and black, before he was engulfed in a sea of limbs and spandex. Withholding the urge to lash out at the unexpected... hug... Tony huffed out a breath and tried to relax his muscles that tensed at the sudden contact. Especially the added pressure against his arc-reactor, not exactly the most comfortable feeling, “I missed your body against me as well, Wade, but we have to work on your manners.”

“Manners, what’s that word mean?” Wade muttered, but his voice was thoughtful.

Tony could feel a wandering hand suddenly groping at his ass, and snorted, “Woah big guy! Don’t you know you should ask permission first?.”

“Just making sure you did the homework.” Wade grinned and pulled away, looking at the Stark approvingly, “Very nice, you want to give me a feel up too? I only give them out for free to my best buddies.”

“Take me on a few dates first, then we’ll talk” Tony stated dryly, but he did not think he could completely hide the relief he felt at the man’s presence, “Now, I believe you dropped the mother of all bombs on me before you left, and its name was _teleportation_. Tell me everything.”

Wade skipped, literally skipped over to Tony’s couch, and laid down on it as if he owned the place, kicking his feet up onto the armrest, and laying his head against the other, a position used in stereotypical therapy offices, “Fuck if I know how it works. I just know I press the button thingy on my belt contraption, and I imagine where I want to go, and it takes me there. Of course, it does glitch out weirdly a lot... It’s okay if I leave a few body parts behind, they grow back eventually.”

“Right, so not advised for the normies like me,” Tony said, giving a sage nod, picking a chair across from Wade, who had turned his head to watch the man as he swaggered over.

“The author has some interesting plans for you, snookums.” Wade mentioned a sort of manic grin under his mask that Tony could barely make out, “I’ve only got the barest of ideas, she’s being very secretive, but let me tell you, she’s got a ton of things in the works.”

“She?” Tony asked, and wondered if he sounded as alarmed as he felt

Wade waved the worry aside, “The author, although she is kind of tooting her own horn right now, she isn’t completely wrong.”

Tony let out a humming sound, and unconsciously his finger traced his arc-reactor as he thought over the new information. It there was theories of course, that fit everything Wade had mentioned. The idea that they were real was very startling, and if Tony wasn’t confident in his own existence, he would fall into some sort of existential crisis at this information. The genius created something though, something that could feel emotions, was a real person, and if he was a creation like that as well, he certainly could not look down upon that. Not without being a massive hypocrite... Yet somehow...

“It’s all very disconcerting, isn’t it?” Tony mentioned a weary smile curled on his lips.

Thoughts of multi-verse and new healing abilities, arc-reactor stuff, lots of theoretical ideas and hypothesis’ were curling at the edge of the genius’ conscious mind just waiting for their turn to have the man’s full attention, but Tony wanted to converse with his friend, not fall into a whole of science and thought. Not for now, at least.

Wade snickered, “Oh babe if you think this is bad, you should see inside my head. It’s like a... How did Banner put it in the movies...? A bag of cats. I have to say, you are one of the very small group of people across the whole multi-verse to ever believe me...”

“And you want to know why?” Tony asked, looking at the ceiling as he thought of what that answer would entail.

“Pretty much~ No one else has ever believed me, the second I mention anything about boxes of multi-verse they seem to think I’m insane, who really knows why? I mean clearly, I’m just as sane as everyone else. Is this the face of a madman? I think not. This is the face of a... Comic-Wade put it, Ryan Reynolds mixed with a Shar-Pei.” Wade rambled, but sitting himself up and looking at the inventor with eyes that seemed to fix on Tony’s very being. Even from within the mask, Tony could feel them lingering on.

 _That wasn’t an easy question to answer, was it_ , Tony thought to himself, still fingering his arc-reactor. It was not enough to say that logically, it just made sense. It wasn’t as though the regular man hadn’t already come up with the theory, and with the existence of mutants and aliens, it was only a matter of time before real answers were found to those questions, “You aren’t the first person to believe in multi-verse, and just because you have a sort of flimsy claim to truth considering the general state of your sanity, doesn’t mean I should dismiss you offhand. As a scientist, I should consider all variables, and you are just one of a wider picture.”

At the very least, believing Wade was far more logical than believing in an all-seeing, all-powerful God.

“Awwwwwh, this is proof, you love me, don’t you! That’s why you deal with my crazy, and why you want me around so much.” Wade cooed, waving a finger at Tony.

Tony made a show of thinking that over, his thoughtful demeanour vanishing beneath a grin, “Oh my god, how could I have not realized before this. That settles it, when Stark Tower is finished being built, you could squat at my place. After all, we’re so close. And I promise a SHIELD free environment.”

The billionaire wanted it, that companionship. He had the money to build a fucking tower that would have his name on it; he could house one of his friends there with him. There was a time when Tony had asked Rhodes to live with him and was swiftly shot down with excuses of independence and privacy being sited. Something that Tony really hoped would not repeat now that he had gone and opened his big mouth and offered.

“Wait wait! Why? When?” Wade rambled, noticing the use of alliteration, as he always did when something unexpected or angering happened. He searched Tony’s face for any sort of lie, or a cracking of a mask put on for a joke, but there was nothing, just some unexpectedly soft look in the billionaire’s eyes.

Tony just shrugged, “I’m going to have plenty of space, and I will still need a sparring partner once I get to New York. Plus, and be ready to feel touched in emotional places you didn’t even know existed within yourself; you are kind of my only real friend at the moment, and I sort of want you around.”

Wade jumped up and made a show of cheering, “Woohoo! I get to live with a billionaire. Oh man, in your face Wolvie – Oh wait... Never mind that doesn’t work, he lives with a billionaire too... HAHA! In your face Wolvie! I get to live with an even richer billionaire! I even get to kick his ass all day when yours just sits in a chair. I cannot wait to tell Wolvie that I have the better billionaire friend. In fact!~”

Wade vanished a second later, leaving Tony to stare at the spot he had been in rather bemused. Tony liked to think that his taste in friends was certainly getting better. Moreover, the look on Rhodes' face should he ever realize that Tony was living with one of the best and well-known mercenaries in the world... That was far too priceless to not take into account.

Project Proving gained a few new subsections, and despite the weirdness going on in general, Tony felt happier than he’d felt in quite some time.

Now to talk his friend into letting him study that teleportation belt... When the mercenary inevitably returned.

Tony even managed to not do more than look shocked when an hour later, Wade returned holding his own amputated legs – That was a sign of just how happy he was, surely.

 


	9. Board Meetings

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.

 **Warnings:** Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.

...

_Chapter Nine_

...

_Tony even managed to not do more than look shocked when an hour later, Wade returned holding his own mutilated legs – That was a sign of just how happy he was, surely._

...

After Wade came back about four months ago holding just his legs, Tony’s life had settled into a new normal.

A sort of ease had fallen over Tony, wounds given to him by Rhodes and Pepper were healing, the company was doing amazing, and the genius’ inventions were coming along swimmingly. Wade popped by about once every day and made the house his own until he went on a mission which generally lasted somewhere between three and seven days. Sometimes Wade even stuck around – Not moved in, but it wasn’t rare for the man to stay the night in one of the guest rooms.

(That particular room was a disaster after the man even staying just one night – Tony knew he’d have to hire a cleaning crew when Wade moved into the tower. A discreet one at that, because one day Tony swore he saw not only stray guns but stray C4 of all things... )

The Stark even allowed alcohol back into the house about a month ago, with the permission of JARVIS.

There were three main things that drew most of Tony’s attention, though.

Stark Tower, which was coming along swimmingly. Tony had finished the arc-reactor to power the place and was just waiting for construction to finish. It was impressive actually because it was projected to be finished within the next few months. JARVIS had done a great job planning everything, Tony hadn’t known that buildings could be made so efficiently. Then again, JARVIS knew how to cut corners and get things that a human simply couldn’t work through.

StarkGlasses, which Tony had finally made a version he was happy with. They had some mild zooming ability, could take pictures and video simple stuff, but they could also project video onto the glass itself, making them perfect for watching movies and the like. This was, of course, as long as movie produces paid Stark Industries to format their movies for the glasses. Not much, of course, but it didn’t need to be, because with the number of movies out there that would need to be done, well, Tony certainly would make a pretty penny with that idea.

He also had his own version, with far faster zoom capabilities, JARVIS installed, motion tracking, targeting, and so much more. The civilian form looked a little bit clunky, but Tony’s version looked just like any other pair of designer glasses. The civilian ones would get better over the years, in fact, Tony already had the next four versions done and ready for release, but better to take it slow.

Finally, Tony’s abilities in relation to the element’s effect on him had taken a great deal of Tony’s time as the genius tested himself, experimented, and studied.

“JARVIS, what’s the current rate?” Tony asked, watching as his cut healed before his very eyes, it was created an hour ago, and it was already almost healed.

“ _Your healing rate clocks in currently at 10 times faster than the normal human average_ ,” JARVIS informed, and through the last month, the worry over that fact had left the AI. In fact, JARVIS was feeling particularly grateful toward the healing factor, as it was keeping his creator safe. Though he hadn’t admitted that to Tony, “ _The pure element itself remains unaffected by any test that we run on it other than pulling power Which it recovers from far faster than first imagined._ ”

“Keep me updated on any change.” Tony said off-handedly, as though his AI hadn’t been doing it for months, “How are the preparations for the StarkGlasses release going?”

Gradually enough, Tony had been letting out small leaks on the fact he was working on a new project – Building up the excitement for it. Normally something like that could be counterproductive, as the ‘hype’ might not live up to the reality. This time however Tony was sure that the excitement would work in his favour. Announcing a completely new product was completely different from releasing a new version of a product. Gradually the release had a subtle effect of keeping his stock up, in fact, it had raised at a steady incline. Now, before things could change, was the perfect time to announce.

“ _Production has already started, all that is left to do is speak with the board and set up the conference._ ”

Tony gave a little nod and abruptly stood up, “Well then, let’s give them a little surprise, shall we? While I do the meeting, you start setting up the conference.”

“ _Shall I warn them of your arrival_?” JARVIS asked, but his tone spoke of someone who already knew the answer to that question.

Tony just let out a laugh.

There were decisions to be made on what sort of entrance the businessman wanted to make. It would be his first time in a board meeting since the switch, and the hounds would want to rip at him. Of course, they wouldn’t succeed.

Pepper was passive to them, in that she worked cunningly around the board. Stane had begged for Tony to work _with_ the board on several occasions. Neither of them was here anymore, and you know what they say, sometimes the best defence is a good offence.

Put plainly, Tony was going to force his way back in with brutishly, and when eventually the board thought to attack, the businessman would alienate them. Which, of course, meant that the Stark would make them so miserable that they quit. The board needed remodel, anyway.

The whole idea behind the current board had stagnated.

Tony, as both a scientist and a person, found stagnation, in general, to be loathsome and the first step on the road to failure.

Several smaller, interconnected plans started to form in Tony’s mind, even as the man got dressed in an overly expensive suit for the occasion.  Dark tinted looking designer glasses were placed onto his nose – Serving more than just one purpose. Hiding his now bioluminescent eyes, and they were StarkGlasses, and Tony did so love wearing and experiencing just how amazing his technology was, especially when JARVIS was involved.

“Run the diagnostics,” Tony demanded, and the display in front of Tony’s eyes started to lit up, several bars and meters appearing as well as important lines of code that the inventor immediately committed to memory. It looked much like a smaller, simpler version of his Iron Man suits interface. While that was running, Tony reached down for the two earpieces and plugged them into their intended ear. They were personally moulded and black, noticeable, but it was expected for Tony to be wearing his tech anyway.

“ _All systems are functioning perfectly, sir_ ,” JARVIS spoke, no longer through the house, but through the earpieces.

“Great.” Tony allowed a sharp grin to his lips, “J, pull a car around for me. I’m going to go see to Wade before we go.”

As predicted, Wade was being served lunch by the bots. The kids had taken something of a liking to the man, Tony found it utterly adorable, because the mercenary, hardened as he was, treated the bots like the kids they technically were. He softened to them, and Tony hadn’t ever been more thankful for a friend. A friend that finally understood at least somewhat the feelings Tony had toward his creations.

“I’m off to rip a few old, manipulative assholes a new one, wanna watch through the camera feed?” Tony grinned out, almost a hundred-per-cent sure that Wade would agree to that.

As predicted, the man turned toward Tony and gave a food-filled grin, “Oh boy! That might even be better than watching more bachelor reruns.”

Tony schooled his expression into something mildly offended, “ _Might be?_ I’ll have you know, my ability to verbally tear into these guys will have some of them running out of that room crying with their metaphorical tail between their legs.”

“Like you’ll be leaving our sparring mat if you end up late for our session because of your meeting,” Wade added, on a more serious note. He did drop the levity when it came to Tony’s training, for reasons Tony didn’t understand.

“Sure thing, Red. My ride it waiting for me though, I’d best get going. Don’t miss me too much, kids.” Tony then swaggered out and into his car, grinning even wider when he noticed that JARVIS had picked out his favourite, and fastest. Once Tony was in and secured his seat belt, he took over control from JARVIS and hit the gas, as always, loving the feeling the rumbling car gave him.

...

...

...

A hop, skip, and jump later, Tony Stark was at the current hub of Stark Industries and was striding through the halls with a sense of purpose that had even the boldest of employees just staring as he walked by, instead of walking up to introduce themselves or ask for something.

As he walked, Tony looked through the StarkGlasses, and was more than satisfied with the way they were working. JARVIS was flittering through faces quickly, taking in the preprogrammed eye movements to know when Tony wanted something to be zoomed in on, a file to be pulled up, and more. He did quickly learn that this particular type of glass was going to be something he could never trust to the public. The amount of distraction that it provided was simply too much for an average user. The lawsuits that SI would get for responsibility far outweighed what they could make. Still, the simple version that Tony made didn’t have so much information available, nor did it have anywhere near as many features.

Thoughts regarding the future of StarkGlasses were pushed out of the inventor's mind when he finally came across a large official-looking wooden door.

“J, start a video feed to Wade, only one-sided for now.” Tony requested and noticed when the icon showing the connected call showed up. After which, he started forward again.

Tony didn’t even bother knocking.

Instead, he walked right in, and relished in the shocked looks that got thrown his way. Some were even offended – As though wondering how Tony had the audacity to do something like that. As if the Stark wasn’t the one who owned the buildings, and their paychecks.

“I’m sure you’ve missed me.” Tony announced, the door snapping shut behind him and it echoed through the now silent room, “Let’s see... You are all here. Good, that makes this easier.”

The room had a rather simple conference table, in front of each seat was a touchscreen computer built into the table. There were a total of eight people on the board. All of them were old friends of Howard Stark – The sort of people who were the worst of their time. Money hungry, stagnant, arrogant men, sexist even, from the way they had underestimated Pepper Potts.

One of the bravest, Alfods Heirshem, spoke up immediately, “Tony! We weren’t expecting you. After Pepper left, we had all assumed that you would take a break.”

Alfods was a weak, pathetic looking man. His hair was slicked back and his voice was scratchy from years of smoke abuse, ultimately he just gave off the douche-bag vibe in a way that few other than Stane could pull off.

“Oh you wish Alfy, I’ve got far too many plans to rest now.” Tony began, clapping his hands together for the show, “I’ve got a new product that I’ve begun production on and I will be announcing within the next few days.”

“Tony, you can’t just spring these things on us out of nowhere – ”

Tony raised an eyebrow toward the man, and swiftly interrupted him, “Yes, I can actually. If you don’t like it, you can feel free to quit. This brings me to the second part of this meeting. I’m done bowing my head and ideas to your demands. I was once told that the board has rights... Fine, you can have those rights, and I’ll work around them, but you are going to hate every minute of it. You’ll eventually quit.”

The rest of the board stayed quiet, allowing Alfods to speak. Tony took notice of that, oh yes, because Alfods was clearly the pseudo-leader of this little group. The others folded to him like wet paper.

Alfods remained calm, although his eyes did narrow, “Are you threatening the board?”

“No, at the risk of sounding extremely cliché, I’m making you’re a promise. Evidence backs it up, I mean I couldn’t keep a PA for more than a month before Pepper. You don’t have her tenacity, so yes, you will quit.” Tony explained with a shrug, “I also see the corruption in my company still, the sort of thing that made me shut down weapon production... The board will be gaining new members soon enough to offset that.”

“You can’t just add new people to the board, it’s a balanced creation, made of people who have been at this job for over twenty years. You won’t find more qualified people.” Alfods gritted out, and Tony could feel the palatable annoyance the man was giving off.

“Sure I will, we need people who actually know what goes into this company, not idiots who don’t even have their doctorate. Starting tomorrow, the heads of each division will be a part of this council. That means... 10 new people will be joining.”

Just enough to offset any of the stupid things that the original eight would try – The loss of power would also be integral to getting them to eventually leave. They were addicted to power, and when they learned that they couldn’t have it here... Eventually, the later parts of the plan would start to be implemented, but for today, the murderous looks he was getting would be enough.

“Since you guys currently don’t actually do anything, I see no reason to actually tell you about the new product. I have a press thing to get to, you guys just do... whatever it is you do in here. The new arrivals will be here soon, enjoy your last day as a useless part of the company.”

The same way he entered, Tony left. Head forward with a confidence that couldn’t be faked. Once the door was safely shut behind him, Tony allowed a far more triumphant look to erupt. The start of the plan was going along perfectly.

“Call Wade, let’s hear his thoughts,” Tony spoke to JARVIS, and not a second later, Wade’s face was taking up the right side of his glasses, see-through enough that it didn’t majorly affect the inventor’s vision.

The man was pouting, “I didn’t see the promised tears…. Hey, if you want me to get rid of those a-holes for you, just let me know. I offer a friends and family discount.”

Tony let out an amused snort, “Thanks for the offer, I’ll keep it in mind.”

It struck Tony that his friend wasn’t wearing his mask for once, and the mercenary seemed perfectly comfortable with it. Which was weird, Tony hasn't even noticed that Wade stopped wearing it everywhere he went. He’d have to ask his friend when he got back to the house.

“I’ll be back home and ready for you to kick my ass in a few hours… Want me to pick up some food?”

Wade’s expression turned very serious, “Tacos, and bring at least 20 packets of sauce per taco, and I want 23 tacos.”

“How super specific of you.” Tony commented, rolling his eyes, but committing the order to memory, “See you when I get back.”

The call disconnected with three blinks from Tony, the technology working just as made. Of course, he had that quick announcement to make, but that would only take 15 minutes. Suitably dramatic, but showing the concept art and an example, but nothing else was really needed. After which the ass kicking could take place.

Tony’s mental dialogue was kind of sarcastic in its enthusiasm for that particular occurrence once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter took so long, I suffered a lot of writers block and rewriting of it to get it to where it is now. I hope you enjoy, and feel free to comment what you thought. I'm exceptionally curious this chapter, because I've been feeling something a bit off about it, thought that could just be me feeling paranoid.


	10. Sweet Spots

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.

 **Warnings:** Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.

...

_Chapter Ten_

...

_The call disconnected with three blinks from Tony, the technology working just as made. Of course, he had that quick announcement to make, but that would only take 15 minutes. Suitably dramatic, but showing the concept art and an example, but nothing else was really needed. After which the ass kicking could take place._

_Tony’s mental dialogue was somewhat sarcastic in its enthusiasm for that particular occurrence once again._

...

Three hours, 30 tacos, and 647 sauces, and 1 press conference later, both Tony and Wade were lounging on the billionaire’s sofa, surrounded by a plethora of wrappers and packets. The Stark had watched in disgust as Wade not only drowned his tacos in the sauce but also saw fit to just _drink_ it. Really, what sort of plebeian had Tony gained as a friend? You would think a friend of Tony-Fucking-Stark would know that the best way to use leftover sauces was to use it in the making of creative drinks.

When Tony stated such, the look of horror that crossed Wade’s face could fuel laughter in third-world countries.

“What the mother fuck? Stark, please tell me that you haven’t been wasting perfectly good sauce like that?” Wade whispered, his tone the picture of horror-struck, and there was still a bit of sauce on his scarred lips.

Tony mimicked that, “Red... Tell me that you haven’t been depriving yourself of delicious mixes because of some obsession with drinking _plain_ sauce...”

A second later, they both burst into hysterical laughter, and was the joke even that funny?

“Hey, I’ve been wondering something, and don’t take this the wrong way, I love seeing that... _Unique_ face around the house, but why the change?” Tony stressed the description with a careful sort of delicacy; he did not want to offend his only remaining human friend. If it still came off as rude, well, at least he’d made an attempt.

Wade grinned, and if Tony had not known the mercenary for months now, the scant leftovers of his meal that was left in his straight, white, teeth, would have the Stark cringing in disgust. Now though, it was just a sign of Wade pushing himself to not care about his appearance, “Would I deprive you of such a _breathtaking_ sight?”

The mix of self-deprecating humour and Wade’s almost flirty tone created a juxtaposition that had Tony giving out another snort of laughter.

“Yeah, your pretty face is just about the only thing that’s stopping me from tossing my tacos when I remember that Mexican before exercise isn’t such a great idea.”

It really wasn’t, Tony could feel his insides turning at the thought of such a heavy stomach being put on the mat against Wade. In general, Tony was shameless about everything in regards to himself – An effect of always having people watching you. Still, the idea of Wade punching him in the stomach only to end up with food chunks being blown all over him a second later was certainly an unappealing idea, even for Tony’s humility threshold. Still, Tony had grown to know Wade well enough to say that he wasn’t getting out of the sparring. Even being the one signing the mercenary’s checks would not be enough to dissuade him from the session.

Surely, as predicted, the mention of their scheduled spar had Wade bouncing up out of his seat and mimicking a hyperactive child within seconds, “I hope you don’t think potentially disastrous bowl movements stop the enemy. Now, let’s get to the gym unless you wanna throw down right here?”

Wade through a few mocking punches, ‘air boxing’ essentially. Tony just rolled his eyes fondly at his sometimes weirdly childish friend, and got up as well, “Might as well get it over with. After this, I’m making you down 10 Flatliners; I want to see how well that healing factor of yours keeps up with alcohol.”

Of course, Tony knew that it was likely a useless venture that would waste his good alcohol considering his own, much weaker, healing factor had given him a lot of alcohol resistance. The playful air between the friends was more than worth a few hundred dollars of drink.

And the few hundred dollars of tacos.

... Even worth cleaning the blood that Wade ended up tracking into the mansion. That is friendship for you, of the purest and weirdest kind.

...

...

...

Tony wore one of his under-suits, which were usually used only for planned piloting of the Iron Man suit, as he got ready to spar with Wade. The flexible skin tight material was actually rather ideal for something like this – Part of the reason the material was go-to for ‘agents’ and people in similar fields. As he walked into the ring, he shot Wade a grin at the whistle of appreciation.

After all, Tony Stark was not one for shame – Especially considering he was currently in the best physical shape of his life.

“You do know that dressing up for me won’t make me go easy on you, right? My boxes might get distracted, but you better believe my eyes are on target.” Wade finally spoke after his eyes finished wondering, getting into position for the fight, somewhat just standing there loosely, although his fists were clenched slightly at his sides.

Wade did not need to actually prepare himself much – Tony was not good enough to warrant that yet.

Tony shrugged his grin still going full force, “I guess we’ll just find out what target it is your eyes are on.”

Once Tony was across from Wade, the mercenary shot forward. Tony tracked the motion and brought his arm up to deflect the simply thrown punch to his face, quickly attempting to give the man a jab in the stomach before he could regain himself, which, of course, had Wade moving out of the way before it could connect.

Now, Tony had been sparring with Wade for months, and he was more than familiar with the man’s patterns. Of course, once Wade thought you knew a pattern of movement, it would quickly change. That was what made the mercenary so god damn dangerous in the first place. That did not mean you could not force Wade into a pattern with your own movements. Tony had been getting considerably better at that as time went on, Wade using mostly instinct to battle, and Tony sharpened his, but also his mind was starting to adapt to manipulating a battles flow –

Wade had moved exactly where Tony had wanted him to, and for the first time ever –

Tony spun around, his fist already having been tightened into form, and brought it down to Wade’s face. The surprise on the man’s expression a millisecond before he was hit would be something Tony would remember forever –

A foot connected with Tony’s chest.

The second it happened, the genius’ mind flew through thoughts of what had happened, Wade had been surprised, lashed out quicker than he normally would have, in an area that he should never have... Arc reactor, and hard, so hard that Tony could now feel pain racing through his body. It wasn't the first time Wade had such a reaction, but never to the -- Vision went white, but there was the faintest tinge of blue to it, and the Stark could feel himself falling backwards, the air having been pushed out of his lungs by the jarring feeling of metal against bone, and just _pain._

Everything was scrambled in the genius’ mind, but somehow he could feel his body hit the floor, his reflexes not even kicking in to stop a harder crash, and the second he hit the ground, it felt like lightning stuck.

Emanating from his arc-reactor, energy started spreading down through his limbs, and into the floor, just all around him. In that second, hour, however long it was, Tony could feel everything, he could not see, but he could feel, but it was not touching, it was... A weird sensation, like pressure all around him, he could feel things pressed against him, energy being moved and forced downward – Then poison, dying, breathing, and everything around him was just one big cycle of death and rebirth through other means, and he was free in a way that couldn’t be explained....

_Slap_

And Tony _gasped_ for breath, his vision focused out of white, and into a blur of red and black. He could hear the frantic movements of Wade Wilson, the blubbering nonsense that came out of his mouth whenever he was nervous or guilty about something. Even knowing what the mercenary meant, Tony just didn’t feel capable of actually comprehending the words.

It felt like forever until his mind finally started to reboot itself.

“– If you stay alive, I’ll try all the sauce drinks, I swear! I’ll even introduce you to my daughter, she’s great, and you’ll love each other. Oh, I know, if you stop just laying there, I’ll get you doughnuts! You like doughnuts, who doesn’t like doughnuts, do you want a doughnut? Oh god, if you wake up, I’ll never eat another taco again. I’ll always do my homework. I’ll stop unaliving assholes, okay, that one was a lie, but I’ll unalive more of them with extreme prejudice. I’ll even do more research to make sure I get the right guy –”

“Fuck Wade, you’re making my head worse.” Tony eventually hissed out, still staring at the ceiling, which was spotted with a frantic Deadpool pacing right over Tony’s head.

“YOU’RE ALIVE!” Wade exclaimed, sounding a mix of astonished and relieved, “– Not that I doubted you, of course, but you were just sort of laying there and not moving for like... 10 minutes, and your eyes were doing a weird glow thing, and I knew I couldn’t call for help, but I also knew that you needed help, so I was really worried and –”

“You little fucker, you kicked me in the arc-reactor.” Tony remembered, finally bringing a hand up and touching his arc-reactor, running across it, trying to make sure that nothing important was jarred out of place physically, “You should know better than to kick a man in his sweet spot like that.”

“Most men in our profession wear protection, so it’s usually not that much of an issue.” Wade defended, even though Tony knew that the dirty fighting mercenary was more than willing to take such a cheap shot if it got him the win.

The tone was forcefully mirthful when really all Tony wanted to do was lock himself in the lab and make sure that the reactor was okay, and to think about what the hell his mind just did. He was probably so close to death he did that, ‘see the light’ thing that people reported. At least, that seemed the most likely, but if it was another effect of the arc-reactors element that needed testing, needed to make sure that nothing had changed. God, Tony only just realized how many things he had to do. So many tests, ideas, and yet there seemed to be something just on the edge of his understanding that was now out of reach.

Tony was an atheist, but he imaged this was how people felt when they were supposedly on the precipice of higher understanding.

With a groan, Tony sat up and was surprised by the relative painlessness he felt. He always hurt, his chest too tight, the arc-reactor pushing against his bones uncomfortably, but compared to the lightning bolt of pain that he had just experienced, he was totally fine. Almost as though the whole thing had never happened, and Tony didn’t know whether to be thankful or scared.

If Wade said something more, Tony was already on his way to the lab and was far too entranced by his own thoughts to really pay attention.

...

...

...

Twelve hours in the lab had lead to nothing other than another list of unanswerable questions. Such was the norm when it came to the element that was _mutating_ Tony. The only answer that was given was JARVIS stating that when Tony was kicked, the healing factor kicked up exponentially in return, a rating level that, for all of ten minutes, had nearly matched that of Wade Wilson.

Tony could just imagine the indignant sound the mercenary would make at that, including potentially an accusation of an attempt at stealing his badass ability.

It was both frustrating and incredibly compelling that Tony couldn’t figure out what was happening to him.

So fascinating, that JARVIS told Wade to collect the inventor from the lab before the sleep deprivation started to be harmful, and of course, Wade did so by making Tony pliant with promises of Flatliners and other saucy mixed drinks.

“Hey, you mentioned a daughter when I was gasping for life after an injury you gave me?” Tony slurred, having finally ingested enough alcohol to actually bring himself to intoxication – and boy did Tony try to lay the guilt on thick without even the mild form of a brain to mouth filter that he usually had.

Wade was barely tipsy, if that, but answered quickly, “Yep! In some universes, I don’t. Pretty sure that she’s not in the movieverse of me, but yeah, rambling, Ellie, she’s so beautiful, perfect, smart little thing, she stays with an old friend... It makes me worried, because if someone were to find her, but yeah. Hey, did you want to meet her?”

The rambling was nervous, and in his drunken state Tony could not tell if Wade wanted him to say yes or not, but hey, Wade had a _kid._ That was far too interesting to not check out.

 _Oh man, I wonder if she has tentacles_ , Tony thought his drunken mind running the possibilities, finding them low, but god that would be so funny and Wade is a mutant, so still mildly possible, “Hell yes! Let’s see this girl.”

“To New York, we go!” Wade grabbed Tony’s shoulder, and a second later, they left the  mansion for New York, Tony had wanted to stop the mercenary, remind him that teleportation _was not good for the normies_ , and maybe even that _despite the increased healing, Tony couldn’t regrow limbs_ but the words didn’t have the time to escape before they blinked into existence in front of some shady bar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a bit late, my birthday happened! Not an excuse.. but hey, what can I say!
> 
> Now, the boys are off to New York, and the story is finally starting to move along. One or two more chapters before we get to the Avengers stuff (FUCKING FINALLY, SLOW BURN TAG MY ASS) I know that some people are probably getting impatant with so much bromance stuff, and trust me, I really want to get to the Loki stuff myself.


	11. First Introductions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been awhile so don't kill me, to summarize because it's been so long: 
> 
> Pepper and Tony broke up, Rhodes is an ass that can't apologize, and Tony is working to prove that he can do shit without them. Tony is working hard to get good at fighting, he isn't depressive drinking, and is in the best shape of his life. In no small part due to his arc-reactor making him mutate in mysterious ways. We just had Wade kick the arc-reactor and had some shit go down forcing the mutation to heal Tony quickly, making the mutation spread even more. After studying his new state, Tony wanted to do some drinks with Wade and mentioned his kid, drunkenly Tony agrees to see Elle, and Wade teleports them out.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.

**Warnings:** Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.

...

_Chapter Eleven_

...

_“To New York, we go!” Wade grabbed Tony’s shoulder, and a second later, they left the  mansion for New York, Tony had wanted to stop the mercenary, remind him that teleportation was not good for the normies, and maybe even that despite the increased healing, Tony couldn’t regrow limbs but the words didn’t have the time to escape before they blinked into existence in front of some shady bar._

...

“If I’m missing anything important you can say goodbye to your corresponding part, and don’t think I won’t find a way to make it permanent.” Tony grit out, but quickly lost himself to his own fascination as he looked around. Not exactly the most classy place a date had taken him, but it was Wade, so perhaps it was more fitting than he'd originally thought, "I never pictured you to be the parenting type, but I have to wonder why you took us to a bar to see your troglodyte."

Wade rubbed the back of his masked neck, remembering only after the scolding that it wasn't a good idea to take passengers, "Elle's moves around for protection. I got a friend in here who I have keep track of where she is for me."

"Glad I wore my favourite tee-shirt to a classy place like this" Tony commented as the two of them entered the bar, the inventor pulling his StarkGlasses out of his pocket and throwing them on his face, placing JARVIS in his ears. He ignored JARVIS' quiet “ _welcome back_ ”, instead focusing on his surroundings, even as his AI started to take initiative to scan the faces and high light some of the most important things, the information going by so fast that anyone other than Tony Stark wouldn't have been able to absorb it. The inside of the bar matched the outside appearance rather well - A few dozen bounty hunters and mercenaries, most seemingly either having some manner of friendship or were arguing as though the worst of enemies ready to physically pounce.

"As if I would take you on a boring date -- I SEE YOU HIDING BEHIND THAT COUNTER WEASEL!" Wade suddenly shouted, turning toward the counter and making for it with a steady, quick speed, "I'm sure you can entertain yourself for a minute babe, I'm feeling the need to express some emotion, most likely using sweet _sweet_ violence as a medium"

Thus, Tony was left alone, sticking out like a sore thumb, but he just shrugged it off and walked to a particularly buff guy who was sitting alone, seeming subdued compared to the rest of the customers, "Hey there big guy, you look awfully shy for this crowd."

"My girlfriend broke up with me," The man screamed out his emotions, looking about ready to flip the table.

Tony startled, took a moment to process the emotions which were just spewed, and tried to keep a snort of amusement in, failing, “Wow, never heard _that_ story before.”

"What would Tony fucking Stark know about it? It's not like you actually bother to keep a partner. Besides, this wasn't some normal fucking breakup, this is because some pussy named Wade Wilson gave me a blowjob, the drink not the action, and some fucker in here told her about it as a joke." The guy glared ahead, not at anything in particular, but his muscles all tensed, and Tony suddenly realized that his arms were bigger than Tony's head considerably large as it was, "What a fucking joke."

Wade Wilson, because of course, that would be Tony’s luck today... Ahhh, well that was certainly a sign that Tony needed to work on an exit plan as soon as possible before Wade showed up from whatever he was doing –

"There you are babe, I was looking for you. I got the info we needed from Weasel – Oh wait, I remember you. You're blowjob guy!" Wade stopped, right in front of the table that Tony was currently sitting at, across from the guy with pecs that would likely destroy the Iron Man suits gauntlet with a handshake, and the actions that followed unfolded rather quickly.

Tony Stark wasn't exactly a virgin when it came to bar fights, but the way that this particular situation dissolved was the fastest and most violent Tony had ever had the joy of participating in.

Muscles flipped the table right on top of the people behind Tony, a group of two, and Muscles started to attack Wade, but then the people from behind started to attack. Somehow though, it seems like they didn't catch on to who exactly threw the table because instead of heading toward Muscles, they were headed toward Tony. Wade in the meantime seemed to be having the time of his life dancing and playing around with Muscles, reminding Tony of just how often Wade did the same move on him, causing Tony to grin, "Well, now’s as good a time as any, light ‘em up, Jay."

In his ear Tony heard the prompt reply, " _Of course sir, might I add that only you would field test the vibranium repulsors during a bar fight."_

"Don't judge me," Tony snarked, but dodged the first member of the trio that lunged, as the bracelets he was wearing unfolded around his hands, Tony clenched his fingers into a fist, and drove it into the second person who attacked, sending them across the room, and right into another group of people.

The fight spread like wildfire. It didn't take long before most of the people who were in the bar were involved, and Tony and Wade were fighting back to back. Wade continued to work his feelings out on the fodder, and Tony, not liking it nearly as much, was still extremely entertained by just how much Wade was liking it, in conjunction with just how easy these guys were to take down with his new ability in hand to hand combined with a few well-placed repulsor strikes. Fighting Wade every day meant that it was hard to notice just how good Tony was getting because the mercenary was undoubtedly one of the best on Earth, and Tony would likely never measure, but he felt a lot of pride for himself for even managing to fight next to his friend.

By the time the fight was done, Wade and Tony were standing back to back still, Tony panting quite a bit, his clothing was ripped and likely beyond all repair, but everyone else was either unconscious or having fled the duo.

"I've taught you well, my student." Wade proclaimed pretending to wipe a tear, looking at the mess they had made with a wide grin hidden behind that mask of his.

“Not well enough to deal with this sober,” Tony remarked, once again hit with just how many downsides were coming with his ability to heal faster. He was going to miss alcohol like an amputated limb, which made sense, considering how often he had leaned on it before.

"Wade I thought I told you not to start shit at my bar again." Someone said from behind the counter, arms crossed, but generally, he seemed more exasperated than angry. If Tony was to make an educated guess (and his guesses were always right, because he was Tony Stark) he'd say that this was the person that Wade had originally come here to see, "Every time you come here, without fail."

"Yet you still let me come in, whitey makes the point that it makes you the dumbass in this relationship," Wade responded and started to make his way toward the door. Normally Wade was much more wanton for conversation, but it seemed he was anxious to see his daughter.

Tony looked around at the destruction that they had made and looked to who he could only assume was a friend of Wade's and promised, "Send me a bill for the repairs, give me the friends and family discount though, if I go around paying for all Wade's messes, even I will be out of money in the next thousand years."

Because Tony was quick to follow Wade out the door, he didn't hear the man grumble to himself about how the repulsor damages to his venue were certainly not Wade's fault.

...

...

...

 Wade called a cab, driven by his friend who was introduced as Dopinder.

"I called him because the Author liked our interactions in the movie." Wade explained,"How we met was similar to what actually happened in the movie, I was on my way to unalive this fucker, not named Franny like in the movie, but one of Spidey's future enemies who is a huge douchenozzle -"

Tony listened to the dribble coming from Wade's mouth, but most of his attention was diverted toward his StarkGlass, which was running through information about the fight and how the bracelet gauntlets had performed. Everything seemed to be in good condition - There was a newly added informational stream, however, one that JARVIS had clearly taken an initiative to add, and it was about the reading coming from his arc-reactor. Sure, he couldn't get a solid idea of how the mutation was acting, but the energy levels being given off happened to be quantifiable.

"Some people ship me with Spidey you know, but the author plans to use the movie-verse Spidey, and I and all the boxes agree that it shouldn’t happen because cannon he’s way too young. He looks so innocent, even with his admirably perfectly shaped ass. Which I can say, because, despite looks, his actor is actually twenty-one." Wade rambled on even more, before turning to look out the window, "Have I told you guys about my OTP? It's FrostIron. Here’s hoping the author doesn’t keep us waiting for too much longer. Eleven chapters is far too long, even with a slow-burn tag."

“Mister Pool. who are you talking too?” Dopinder asks, almost idly.

“The readers, who else?”

Wade’s verbal diarrhoea continues unendingly, before the car stops and Dopinder reaches over for a high five, which Wade promptly gives, along with a huge stack of money. Far too much for the ride, even someone as unused to paying attention to that as Tony was could tell that much.

"The extra is because I like you Dopinder, and also because if anyone finds out about this location, I'm going to have to rip your intestines out and spell out a thoughtful apology." Wade threatened.

Dopinder shook his head quickly, "Oh no Mister Pool, I would never do something like that."

...

...

...

"So... Does this kid of yours have tentacles?" Tony asked as they both looked at the unassuming door in front of them, Wade hesitating to announce their presence.

"No, but that would be so awesome." Wade mused, before seemingly gathering himself enough to give the door a few solid knocks.

Honestly Tony expected the woman who was apparently in charge of keeping track of Wade's daughter, not the young girl who opened the door. She looked as if in her pre-teens, darker skin and hair, but her facial shape and structure would have her grow to be a rather fetching woman - Tony could actually see Wade's shape in the girl, especially around the eyes and jaw.

"Dadpool!" The girl exclaimed, lunging forward and grasping the leathered man in a hug. She was picked up and twirled around, it was sickeningly cute, and something that Tony honestly wouldn't have expected from Wade as a father.

"Elle-Belly! Look at you, and where is Emily?" Wade asked, finally placing the girl down and taking his mask off. The look in his eye was one of painful fragility that almost hurt Tony to see.

"She had to go report in, and she did leave me with a sitter, but she pussied out after I showed her Parker. Ran right out the house, as if Parker would actually hurt her" Eleanor spoke, causing Tony to raise an eyebrow, because yes, she was very clearly Wade's kid.

Wade attempted a disapproving look, "Remember what I said about using language like that?"

"Only to use it when I know it will bother people?"

"Good girl!" Wade praised, giving her another hug before turning toward Tony, "This is my newest padawan, Tony Stark. He's a bit boring, but not that bad."

"Iron Man is lame." Elle proclaimed the second her eyes finally landed on Tony, making the man give off a mockingly hurt look.

"And here I was, thinking I might ask you to move into my new place with your dad and guardian." Tony proclaimed, hand over his arc-reactor still acting pained.

It wasn't exactly what he planned when Tony had approved of coming here - Not that he'd been thinking about anything particular at that point, being drunk as he was, but after seeing the way that Wade looked at her the inventor couldn't help but put the idea forth. Tony didn't want to run a daycare, but this kid seemed okay, you know, by the standard one rated little troglodytes.

Elle seemed almost cautious of the offer, not even aware of the painful hope that was in Wade's eyes, "Could Parker come?"

"Parker?" Tony asked, and considering it had sent the sitter away in fear, maybe that would be a hard line.

The girl gave a smirk and ran back inside when she returned, her hands were clasped closed and when they opened there was a spider. This wasn't some little, run of the mill thing either. This was a large, hairy, bird eating type of spider. The weird thing about Tony's reaction to spiders was the fact that he found small spiders more scary than large ones, the unseen threat and all that. So despite keeping a wary eye on... Parker... Tony still nodded, "I guess you can keep the little monster, as long as it stays on your floor... Although I could make you something much better, maybe something that doesn't need to eat trash pigeons."

“But then people wouldn’t cower in fear at the sight of him.” Elle pouted, looking every bit the evil, mischievous child.

“You’d really let us all move in?” Wade asked, his tone too low for Elle to hear, as the child was placing Parker down and watching him interact with his new environment

“Sure, in fact, you can all have your own floor for all I care. I’m going to have too much room, and if I’m going to have my best friend there, might as well have his kid too.” Tony said, but his tone was forcefully nonchalant, not wanting Wade to know just how emotional the whole thing made him. Not wanting Wade to know just how much it would hurt if the mercenary refused.

Besides, looking at Wade watching so carefully after his daughter, he knew that those two deserved to have more time around one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to start writing the next chapter now... Let me know how you liked this one. It's hard to come back to a story after a break and get things right, I'm most hesitant about my Deadpool, as he's my hardest character to pin down. I want to keep the bromance strong, but guess what comes up soon that makes up for mistakes! That's right, the movie~ Next chapter is the start - That's absolutely 100% a guarantee (when that will come out is less certain) 
> 
> This chapter by far is something I feel is my weakest one, that's in large because I need Elle in New York for my shit to work out, but setting stuff up isn't my strongest suit. Wish me luck, I hope you enjoyed, and if you see anything wrong, let me know I'll fix it right up.


	12. Mysterious Problems

**Disclaimer:**  I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.

 **Warnings:**  Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.

...

_Chapter Twelve_

...

_Besides, looking at Wade watching so carefully after his daughter, he knew that those two deserved to have more time around one another._

...

A few months later, and Tony, Wade, and the munchkin were housed inside of one of the greatest technological marvels of the century. Honestly, Tony was enjoying life far more than he expected he could all those months ago, after losing Pepper and Rhodes. Wade and Elle had been, dare he say, healthy for Tony to be around. There wasn't any expectation from either of them for Tony to act a certain way, give to them, or anything of the sort. They were fast becoming a firm and constant anchor in his still chaotic and fast-paced world.

Wade and Elle had both elected to move into Tony's penthouse with him, instead of having their own floor.

Tony wasn't sure he was able to hide his utter relief when he heard Wade mention that he wanted to stay on the same floor. This was only after just having heard from Emily Preston claiming that she wasn't going to be moving in with them. Elle had acted nonchalant about it, but Wade was rather touched by the trust that Emily had in him (even if he hadn't actually show it) to actually trust that he wouldn't harm his daughter - That he would protect her.

When Wade asked Emily about this, she swiftly replied, "I've been in your head, Wade Wilson, I know how much you care about her."

Of course, months of happiness were always followed by trouble, at least that was Tony's experience.

" _Sir, there is a situation in the SHIELD facility holding the Tesseract. From what I've gathered from the surveillance systems, this man appeared,_ " As JARVIS spoke, he projected an HD image of the intruder, a lanky leather-clad figure holding a rather deadly looking spear which Tony would very much like to avoid the pointy end of, " _There were fluctuating readings from the Tesseract before what I can only assume to be a portal appeared, and once the energy dissipated, he was there. I can't discern much else, though I've got the files ready for your review._ "

Tony walked around his workshop, not quite pacing, but his mind was quickly working on different possibilities, "J do we have any idea where this guy's going ?"

" _He isn't exactly trying to hide it, sir._ "

"Well don't leave me waiting, sweetie." Tony snarked, but was tenser than he normally was with his beloved A.I. Of course, it wasn't JARVIS' fault, but the idea of the Tesseract being stolen was not a good one… What someone could do with a nearly infinite source of power, especially one that was the close, though thoroughly surpassing, the type of energy signature that Tony's element gave off. They weren't based off each other, it was hard to explain, but both of them seemed to be in a weird sort of constant change - Something which Tony hadn't encountered before comparing the two with elements that were otherwise known on Earth.

The lights suddenly dimmed as JARVIS started a completely proportional playback.

" **Please don't.** " The dark-haired mystery spoke, " **I still need that.** "

Tony, even knowing how dangerous the whole situation was, couldn't help the snort of laughter that came out of him at that. The brief byplay between Fury and the mystery man was interesting - Although Tony really had no idea what Fury was thinking, trying to so obviously sneak away when in plain sight. Then again, Fury didn't have a history of good decisions, considering he had decided to cross Tony Stark, even if the man still didn't know that he'd done so. After all, Tony hadn't forgotten the review he'd gotten, nor the spy that Fury saw fit to embed within his life, and that wasn't even taking into account the horde of his father's things that SHIELD felt the right to hold onto.

For a brief second Tony almost hoped that he'd get to see the mystery man take Fury's head off, that would just about make Tony's day after remembering all the wrongdoings he'd just thought over.

" **I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose.** "

Glorious purpose, but he showed up looking so incredibly sickly. Still, Tony didn't know much of Asgard or what their people were like, it didn't seem unreasonable to think that such things were normal for aliens he knew next to nothing about, There was a way of cross-checking that information though, "J, give me everything we have on Asgard, and Thor? If I remember his name correctly, also, look up Loki in the legends and give me the results. Hopefully, some of it should be true."

Immediately information started to flicker around Tony as articles appeared detailing the legends surrounding Loki's life, children, and tortures that he supposedly went through during his time in Asgard. Afterwards, the screens started to show the minuscule details which had been gathered via Thor. The picture painted was extremely contrasting. On Thor's end, it would seem that Asgard was a wonderful place, although there was some minor issue within the ruling family. The legends pained a rather stark contrast - Tony couldn't accept one or the other without more proof but retained the knowledge for potential later use anyway.

"Continue playback."

" **An ant has no quarrel with a boot.** "

Tony had to admit, the way Loki put that nearly offended look on Fury's face was a particularly attractive quality, even for someone who would likely end up being Tony's enemy.

Before Tony could continue watching though, there was a familiar squeal erupting from behind him. It wasn't too surprising, considering Wade had full access to his labs, but he seemed far too excited to see what was happening.

"OMG, It's LOKI~! I've been waiting forever for part two of my OTP to finally show up!" Wade rushed out, practically swooning over the now paused image of the thief, "Slow burn tag my ass, I've been waiting so long for this! Hell, I've complained about that slow burn tag for so long that complaint was on a slow burn."

"JARVIS, could you translate that into English please?" Tony drawled but looked amused at Wade's antic, judging by the raised eyebrow he shot toward the other.

" _It would seem that Mister Wilson was speaking about a relationship between Loki and someone else, which he views as the pair that he most wants to get together_ ," JARVIS answered, his tone serious as the subject matter.

Tony rolled his eyes as his mostly rhetorical question was answered, "I know that J, I do have a twitter."

_"Then why ask, sir."_

"We have more important things to talk about than Twitter! Listen, Tones, Tony, my favourite Tonette, you have to let me come with you when you leave for SHIELD, I HAVE to see my OTP in action, pretty please?" Wade begged, and damn Tony for not being able to say no to that face.

A face that had rarely been graced with a mask ever since they had moved in together with Elle, and if that wasn't one of the most touchingly symbolic things Tony ever realized, then he would shave his head and blow up all his Ironman suits. Trying to say no to baby blues like Wade's was, strictly speaking, impossible.

The only time Tony had ever seen better-begging eyes was when he was faced with Elle's pout of doom.

It wasn't even that Tony would say no if he wanted to though. Asgard produced some strong threats, as shown by everything which happened around Thor, and thus Tony felt the need to have someone he could trust to protect his back, not stab it.

"Better sharpen your swords, then, because as incompetent as SHIELD is, I doubt it will take them too much longer to rub a few brain cells together and realize they need me," Tony commented, before turning back and facing the hologram of Loki speculatively.

"You say as if my sword isn't always ready for some action." Wade quipped.

...

...

...

" _Sir, there is a laughable attempt to override my protocols being made by one Phil Coulson_." JARVIS suddenly announced.

It had apparently taken SHIELD a total of nineteen hours to get their heads out of their collective asses and come to the realization that they needed Tony Stark. Which of course would have been fine, if when this happened Tony, Wade, and Elle weren't taking that downtime to watch one of the most pivotal movies a little girl could watch - Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That was a movie that Tony and Wade agreed was a must watch, no matter who you are. Even if you hated it, you simply have to have at least  _seen_  it.

"Cute, a power move right off the bat, as if they don't know who they are dealing with." Tony nearly rolled his eyes, but couldn't bring himself to because of just how deep into pride he was, at the fact this beloved creation was updating himself and such to the point where he didn't need Tony's help any longer to protect himself from the evil governments, "Let him up J, but make it painfully clear just how out of his league he is."

Elle and Wade just continued watching the movie, as if politics on movie night were a normal thing. Which they were, as Tony  _did_  run an important business which he'd gutted and renewed not all that long ago. Tony placed his StarkGlasses on the bridge of his nose, the tinted nature of the glass hiding his impressively glowing eyes from sight. A glow which had only gotten brighter over the last two months, although the rate at which was starting to slow down. Not surprising, considering Tony now looked to be about twenty-five. It was a miracle that no one really thought to ask after that, though they likely just assumed that money has a way of de-ageing you.

"Mister Stark," Coulson stated, smoothly walking in as the elevator door opened, looking completely unaffected by the fact he was unable to touch JARVIS, even though Tony knew internally that had to be something which terrified SHIELD

"Agent, I've been expecting you." Tony teased out, to which Wade finally looked over like an excited puppy.

For once his mask was on though, having expected the company, and Tony tried to ignore the pang of deep sympathy he felt, now wasn't the time for that mushy stuff, there were far more important things to do.

"Then I'm assuming you know the whole situation?" The agent spoke as if trying to tempt Tony with information. Which, Tony had to admit, wasn't a bad idea. For someone who was scientifically inclined and curious-minded as Tony, it was certainly the correct way to go.

"Don't get cute with me, Agent," Tony shot back and watched as pushed a console onto the table in front of the trio, and the Agents composure even managed to stand up against Elle's glare as the movie was interrupted. Tony reached forward and activated the console, not wasting any time before downloading the information right to JARVIS, "So tell me, is this a Tony Stark thing, or are you here to beg my forgiveness and accept that you need me in your little boy band."

"This has gone far beyond personality profiles - But since you asked, your lack of contact with SHIELD has simply made your report seem all the more correct, and Fury was hesitant to involve you at all. I was the one who had to put forward a request for you." The agent explained, though he still seemed completely unruffled, and that was just unnatural. Tony tried not to judge, but clearly, Agent wasn't of the human species.

Still...

"How kind, I'll be sure to add you to my Christmas list." Tony mentioned, and turned back to the console before throwing all the information into the air, the holograms forming around him, not just him though, another formed around Wade, "JARVIS, make note, Agent Agent is to be added to my Christmas list."

" _Of course sir, and what shall we be getting him_?" JARVIS asked, his tone far less emotive as it would have been without the guest.

Tony took a second to think, "Perhaps his next round of silicon treatment, a face like that probably needs a yearly."

" _I'll book the appointment now._ "

Yet, the largest reaction Agent showed didn't come from the hilarious jokes Tony was making, but rather who the information was being shown too. It wasn't even because of Elle either, which seemed the most likely reason someone would complain, "This is restricted information, Wade Wilson is certainly not on the approved list."

"He is, because he already knows most of it anyway before you even got here in fact." Tony offhandedly mentioned, waving a hand dismissively as he studied the more in-depth scans of those who were put under the sceptre's mind control.

"Yeah, I'm in the big boys club now, you posers ain't got shit on me." Wade childishly sang.

The biggest change from what Tony could tell was that the person under control had their eyes turn colour. In fact, they nearly matched the colour Tony's took after the mutation started to occur, although there was no sign that their eyes were glowing, it was all the more reason that Tony needed to get his hands on that weapon. It could bring him strides closer to figuring out his own element and the mysteries that came with it.

"I don't know if you heard, but Wade and I are..." Tony paused for a moment before putting a significant amount of stress on the following word, "... _Besties_ , practically a package deal."

"My nickname for Tony is 'My beloved ball and chain' because we are soooo married," Wade stated matter of factly.

Tony snorted at that, "Dear, you know that JARVIS is my wife, are you  _really_  sure you want to get into the middle of that?"

" _Changing my Creators designation to 'My beloved ball and chain'_."

Tony outright snickered, "Love you too, J."

"If we could please focus on the matter at hand." Agent broke with his usual no-nonsense demeanour, so usual that Tony was sure that it never actually left his face, likely to the point that he was born with that look.

"Oh, would you look at that, Bruce Banner and his alter-ego will be coming as well. Fun, I can't wait to meet the guy." Tony smiled at the picture of one of the brightest minds this Earth held. Nothing to his of course, but still incredibly impressive. Well, Bruce's educational history outshined Tony's, well, simply put, Tony just didn't care that much for actual degrees when he could learn all of it so quickly. One or two was enough to show how impressive he was, the rest would have been a waste of time. This was sounding like it would be more of an interesting and lucrative venture the more time that passed. Tony looked back at the Agent and waved him away, "Wade and I will meet you at the helicarrier in a few hours. Now get out, I don't want you to infect anyone with that stick up your ass."

"I would, but the kid put a huge spider on me," Coulson spoke, his eyes watching as Parker moved up his body, though his facial expression hadn't changed, his whole body was tensed - Likely an effect of not knowing just how dangerous a breed the spider was.

Wade just started to laugh, and though Tony couldn't help the smirk that mirth that spread across his face, he turned to Elle, "Troglodyte, what did Dadpool and I tell you about putting Parker on the guests?"

"To only do it to the people who come in for company meetings." But Elle didn't look in the least bit guilty, "I don't care though, he interrupted movie night Toneroony~"

Tony thought it over for a few seconds, ignoring the horrid nickname which would someday soon need to be addressed as no one living with him could be so lacking in naming ability, "True enough, and I would say that we could see how long it took Agent to make an actual facial expression, but me and Wade are on the clock now, and if you leave him immobilized then when Emily comes over to babysit you, she's going to figure it out."

There was a calculating expression crossing the young child's face, but eventually, she got up and removed the spider, going back to her room to place him in his cage.

"Whenever your voice gets stern like that, it does things to me," Wade interjected the second Elle was out of earshot, even though being who her father was, she'd heard far worse things.

"We don't have the time to play tonight dear, we have homework," Tony spoke, but his eyes were once more gliding across the information that passive scans showed about the people who had been mind controlled, there was starting to be half an idea forming, but there wasn't really any way to prove it. Besides, it didn't really change the object of the game, which was to capture Loki and retrieve the Tesseract.

"But it's been so long since I've pounded you into submission on the mat," Wade whined, and beneath his mask, you could tell he was pouting.

"Use the idea of fucking with Fury by staying in his blind spot to hold you over." Tony smoothly replied, neither of them noticing as Agent Agent left the room,

...

FIVE MINUTES LATER WITH DEADPOOL THE MOST BADASS MERC EVER POV (MOSTLY)

...

"Are you guys as excited as I am?! Soon enough our OTP is actually going to meet, won't that be great? Oh man, I can hardly believe it's finally happening." Deadpool squealed out as he ran across his room, quickly gathering all the supplies he thought he might need during the current venture, deciding to leave his mound of C4 at home, considering Tony had made him much better explosives to bring. Wade hadn't even asked, and clearly, that was a sign of a truly strong friendship

[ **Or he was just trying to buy you.** ]

(There's always the possibility that he just liked explosions as much as we do, and wants to see even better ones! Did you see his show in the first Ironman movie, methinks he doth protest too much.)

"Hurry up Wade, we don't want to be late. I know you want to make a good impression, I saw your buzzing when you came across Roger's photo."

"Everyone likes Captain America, even Canadians!" Wade exclaimed back, but paused for a second, and lost even the slightest bit of energy, "Although it's harder due to what happened in the movie-verse. Cap was kind of a hypocritical asshole."

Wade was a fanboy, but he wouldn't let that get in the way of the first real friendship he had since before the people of Weapon-X got their grubby hands on him. Tony wasn't perfect, but then neither was Wade.

(He's lasted a long time, but I wonder just how much longer that will last.)

[ **I hate to admit it, but he's probably right, Stark is great, but history repeats itself.** ]

Wade forced himself to ignore the negative nancies that were inside his head. He found acceptance of himself in Tony, and if there was anyone who would stay, it would be him. Chances might have been that Tony won't stay, but that wasn't something Wade would allow to fuck with his head. If he stayed, then he stayed. Maybe even if the friendship broke apart a bit, they would just be strained friends like Wade and Cable, and that would be enough. (Though Wade tried his best not to think about just how heart broke his little girl would be if his  _bestie_  couldn't swing it.)

As Wade turned the corner, fully stocked and ready to rock, Tony was there waiting already in the Ironman suit, "Change of plans, we're going now."

"What the shit, Stark? I thought we were getting a ride from SHIELD?" Wade was actually somewhat angry, you don't offer someone a ride then cancel last minute.

"But think about it this way, you get to have a piggyback ride." Tony motioned toward his back, the mask of his suit flipping down to cover his face as he turned around and offered his back to Wade, "Besides, we are still getting a ride, we are just meeting them halfway to save some time."

Wade couldn't help the wide grin that and clambered up to wrap his arms around the neck of the suit and wrap his legs around its sides, "You know, next time you let me wrap around you like this, we could do without the inch of alloy between us and make some real chemistry."

"Your dick probably has the half-life of Hydrogen-7." Tony quipped, even knowing that smart as Wade pretended he wasn't, the man certainly wouldn't get that particular joke.

"Don't talk smart to me, you know it does things."

"If you want me to not talk smart, then I'd have to never open my mouth again," Tony said confidently, before taking off as fast as he could with a human attached to him - Having JARVIS carefully monitor the situation to make sure that Wade was always at his safest. Of course, if Wade did fall he would eventually just heal, but there was a bit of a time crunch on the current situation.

Besides, Wade was more than enjoying himself, if the whooping sounds he was making at the take-off were any sign.

(WHY HAVEN'T WE DONE THIS BEFORE! THIS IS GREAT!)

[ **Likely because Stark doesn't want to accidentally drop us and have to deal with the puddle of human that he'd have to clean up and try to place back together should we fall.** ]

(Why would he care about that, we heal.)

[ **We don't paint a pretty picture, or puzzle, as it were.** ]

Wade was far too busy enjoying the ride and sights to actually pay attention to what his boxes were saying. Of course, that had been happening more and more the happier Wade got. There was less need for voices that were more than likely a creation of his loneliness when Wade was far from actually lonely, "You know when Peter and I did this kind of thing, the shippers went crazy. What do you think Stark, does anyone actually ship us?"

JARVIS took the audio and removed the sound of rushing wind from it before transmitting it to Tony within the suit. Tony quickly realized that this was another reference to the multiverse theory, and took it in stride as he did before, knowing he couldn't technically prove it true or false (though there was far more proof of it being true) and decided to just answer, "Who would ship us, we would destroy the world in a few weeks."

"Ha! If you think we would make a volatile pairing, your sweet ass is in for a surprise."

Tony would have shot Wade a look there but wasn't exactly capable of it right now, so instead, he just picked up speed without giving warning to his passenger and decided that he'd just ignore Wade for the rest of the way. He didn't particularly like it when Wade seemed to know more than him and gave the slightest hints to that knowledge.

[ **He loves us anyway.** ]

(I'm pretty sure he just thought briefly thought about dropping us and allowing us to become finger paint. The author might not have written that thought in, but I'm nearly absolutely sure.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authour Note: Been awhile, huh? I got a bit back into the swing of this fandom and edited up Chapter Twelve. Watching Avengers Infinity Wars really put me back into a Marvel mode. Having said that, not sure I'll update again soon, but editing this wasn't a big mission. Hope you like it, leave your thoughts if you have them. Also, eventually, there will be one-shots about Wade, Tony, and El's life in the tower together. Not sure when, but I have the ideas in my head still.
> 
> Edit: Also, I've read all the wonderful comments, but I don't want to bug people by replying to some of them so late. Just know that I do appreciate each idea/criticism/compliment that I've been given.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to hear my dear readers ideas, predictions, and wants in regards to this story. They tend to be exceptionally interesting for me to see, and I love, especially, when a reader manages to get something right. (Not that I'd tell you if you did. Imagine me sticking my tongue out at you teasingly as I said that.)
> 
>  


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